And I Am Happy Now
by queenofevilsmirks
Summary: Chloe would just like to find out if Aubrey returns her feelings, but she has more than that secret to hide. Beca has a secret of her own, but she can't help being pulled towards both of them. And when Aubrey and Chloe meet Beca, everything just becomes aca-confusing. (Werewolf!Chloe, Vampire!Beca, Human!Aubrey. Triple Treble.)
1. Chapter I

_A/N: This is the first fanfic I'm publishing here, so it might take me some time to get used to formatting and such as I am not quite used to it. Anyway, though, I hope y'all like this. I'm starting to more as I write it even though my idea for it is a little half-baked - I thought it'd be fun since it's October so I'd experiment in my writing with some "spooky" stuff. Obviously though I'll continue it even after the month ends. As for the story, I do not own any of the characters or any parts of the movie that I use to make this somewhat canon (like the shower and audition scenes, I paraphrased those from memory, but I didn't come up with it all on my own as y'all know who have seen the movie, but I feel like I should state that in the beginning). This is a Triple Treble fic so if you don't like, don't read. But please, enjoy!_

 _This chapter starts from Chloe's POV and will switch between her, Beca and Aubrey throughout the story. Story as a whole rated M, but I'll warn y'all if there are things that deserve warning. Rated M for minor adult language, suggestions of violence and other adult themes that may also be explicit.  
_

* * *

 **\+ I +**

There are few things besides the obvious that really just _get_ to Chloe Beale, that dig themselves under her skin and into her _bones_. She isn't entirely sure if there's ever been anything before this that has affected her in such a way. And even if she was she knew it wouldn't really matter because whatever _this_ was, it was obviously important.

But, at the same time, she couldn't really do anything about it.

Ever since meeting Aubrey Posen, when the two of them first joined the Barden Bellas and then swiftly became friends, she had been borderline _obsessed_ with the blonde. It was _painful_. At first she'd just wanted to be _close_ to Aubrey, to be able to be in the same _vicinity_ as her, which partially fueled her intense efforts towards becoming her friend. It wasn't like she wasn't already a physically affectionate person, or overly enthusiastic, or literally anything that she showed to Aubrey within seconds of really meeting her - it was just that perhaps she went a bit too far with them. _Maybe_ she sort of really put Aubrey off. But that didn't matter now, did it? They were friends, and they were even upholding Bella tradition now that all the seniors in the group (basically the entire group, actually, besides them) had graduated.

Even if the activities fair had been a bust.

Chloe trailed after Aubrey on their way back to their space for rehearsals and meetings, both of them still carrying pretty much everything from their booth. Hardly anybody had been interested in taking their flyers to join in on the a capella fun. Chloe grinned a little and giggled under her breath remembering the antics of the Australian girl who came up to them - Fat Amy (and yes, she actually _called herself_ that) - but the sound squashed itself and she felt her lips thin out as her mind conjured up the image of the other more significant girl they'd met.

What had she said her name was again? Beca? Sure, Chloe had been awfully enthralled the second she laid eyes on the shorter brunette, much like how she felt the first time she saw _Aubrey_ , but there was something distinctly _off_ about her. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it. But the grin returned, a bit softer, as she thought about their interaction with her. Of course Aubrey had to be a little salty in general - not that Beca had helped - but it had been oddly... important, maybe, and made Chloe feel a little strange. And distracted. Definitely distracted, as was perfectly demonstrated in the way she very nearly tripped over Aubrey, whom she hadn't noticed had dropped down into a crouched position when she went to deposit her box of flyers somewhere behind the whiteboard.

"What the hell, Chloe?" Aubrey snapped exasperatedly, throwing her hands up over her head to block herself from anything that might fall on her. Chloe easily righted herself before any damage could come to the blonde and stepped around to the whiteboard, grinning sheepishly at her in apology. Aubrey huffed, tucking some hair behind her ear. "What are we going to _do_?" she asked, shifting to more pressing matters. "Hardly anybody wants to be a Bella - what does that mean for audition? We can't be the only people in the group, Chloe." She let out another sound of despair, covering her face with her hands. "This is a disaster..."

"It might not be as bad as you're making it sound, Bree," Chloe said, as affectionately as she could. "Just because we didn't get a ton of people at our booth doesn't mean people won't _show up_ \- people already know about us," she rationed.

Aubrey scoffed and stood, smoothing her dress down over her stomach. "Right, because of my... disgrace, last year."

Chloe bit her lip against a sigh. It made her kind of sad when Aubrey talked about "the incident" because she wasn't _entirely_ sure how to manage it. She stepped closer to the blonde and placed a hand comfortingly on her lower back, even rubbing her hand in small circles. "That isn't always gonna be the thing people know us for," she murmured. "Trust me, Bree, after auditions we'll have a kickass group, and we'll make it all the way to the finals."

She grinned when Aubrey relented with a much smaller smile. "Thanks, Chlo," she sighed, loosely crossing her arms. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Shrugging it off, Chloe stepped away. "That's what I'm here for, right?"

* * *

Later, as she was making her way to her dorm's bathroom, she growled at herself and chastised the way she'd responded. Even after knowing Aubrey for so long the blonde still had a way of being able to completely shut off Chloe's brain whenever she was around her. Chloe had never reacted to anyone in that way and she just didn't know what it meant - but that was something to reflect on another time, when she shouldn't be focused on more important things and especially since she'd already devoted so much thinking time to it before. She slipped out of her robe and got into a stall, showering quickly. Then she just stood there a while, letting herself air dry, and inspected her own body.

Chloe knew her intensified emotions did partially have to do with the fact that she just felt things more intensely in general, for the simple reason that she had a secret - something none of her childhood, high school, nor college friends knew about. She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, and dropped her hands back down to her sides. No, that wasn't exactly a rabbit hole she wanted to go down right now, either.

A soft sound reached her ears suddenly, and she recognized it coming from the hall right outside the bathroom door before the person actually opened the door and came in. The girl was singing, and Chloe felt momentarily floored by the sound of it falling so acutely on her ears. Only Aubrey's singing had ever really affected her this way, and she allowed herself to give brief pause at that thought and frown before she refocused again on whoever this girl _was_. She heard her walk past in flip-flops, even though she'd already recognized her scent a few seconds prior. Beca. If Chloe had to _describe_ that scent, though, she would say it was mixed with something oddly earthy, a little metallic, and a little bit like roses. And that was just the general scent; underneath it was something more personal, and that smelled like sap and pine, interspersed with hints of sweet smelling smoke that Chloe for the life of her couldn't place even though it was surprisingly a _really_ good smell.

Still, that was nothing compared to the sound of her singing.

It was angelic, in a way, and Chloe swiveled to follow it, even slipped very quietly out of her own stall and went into the one Beca was using. She grinned sneaking up on the brunette, giving her another moment before triumphantly announcing, "You _can_ sing!"

Beca jumped and whirled around, instantly moving to cover herself. "Dude!" she yelped. "What are you _doing_?"

"You were singing Titanium," Chloe breathed excitedly, shifting a bit closer to turn off the water. As distracted as she was by the lovely sound, she nevertheless noticed every single altercation in Beca's movements and expressions. The way her eyes briefly glimmered and turned into an ever so slightly darker blue, the way her shoulders tensed up, everything down to the way the muscles in her back and shoulders rippled as she pressed herself into the corner.

The look in Beca's eyes changed slightly again, this time into an expression of minor surprise and something like appreciation. "You know David Guetta?" she asked, seeming to also lose the smallest bit of tension in her stance.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Have I been living under a _rock_? Of course I know David Guetta. That song is my jam. My _lady_ jam." She smirked a little. There was something about Beca that made her feel like she was in a competition, or perhaps that she was being threatened, but also like she just needed to tease the brunette endlessly. She enjoyed the appalled, sort of horrified expression Beca suddenly wore. "Will you sing it for me?" she asked.

"Dude, _no_ ," Beca hissed.

"Not for _that_ reason," Chloe giggled with another eye roll.

"I am _nude_ ," Beca added, almost like it was a last ditch effort to get Chloe to leave. It wasn't gonna work. "So are you."

Chloe placed her hands on her hips, almost missing the way those steely blue eyes started to trail down her body before snapping back up to the ceiling. "I am not leaving until I hear you sing," she said. She suddenly felt a bit... indescribable. And she wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or not, and assumed she wouldn't figure that out until much later.

Beca huffed lightly, turning around, keeping her arms crossed securely over her chest to cover herself. Her gaze flicked all over before settling on Chloe's. After a tiny intake of breath she started singing, and Chloe grinned, joining in after a few moments. When they were done she grinned widely. Beca just glanced down at her totally _uncovered_ body.

"Oh - I'm pretty confident," Chloe said, nodding and narrowing her eyes playfully, then gesturing to herself, "about all this."

"You should be," Beca whispered, with something like half a wink.

Chloe left her to shower after that, a little bit because she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay in the other girl's presence. She still practically skipped back to the dorm room she and Aubrey shared - it was bigger, a lot like an apartment, something reserved for seniors. When she arrived she noted that Aubrey was in her room, so she retreated into her own. Her grin hadn't left her, and didn't even as she prepared dinner.

She heard Aubrey chuckle from behind her, even though she'd already heard her come in, smelling her before even _that_. Aubrey did move surprisingly lightly. "What's got you so happy?" she asked, and Chloe glanced at her from over her shoulder; she stood leaning against the entryway with her arms crossed.

Chloe felt her grin kick up a notch. "Guess who can _sing_?" Aubrey got halfway through an eye roll and opened her mouth to speak before Chloe interrupted her. " _Beca_."

Aubrey arched an eyebrow. "You have to at least _let_ me guess, first," she huffed, hints of a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. "What makes you say that? When did you hear her sing?" she said, brows quickly furrowing, and she suddenly avoided eye-contact.

The flare of possessiveness Chloe felt in response honestly didn't surprise her, but it was still kind of hard to hold back a snarl. She didn't like the thought of Aubrey perhaps being _flustered_ while talking about Beca. To her, that didn't necessarily mean good things. Then again it wasn't really like Aubrey had confronted much about her own sexuality, which was something just about anyone could see from miles away. "I was in the bathroom, and she came in singing," Chloe explained, turning back to her cooking so Aubrey wouldn't see her briefly bare her teeth at the Mac 'n cheese she was finishing. "I told her she should come to auditions."

"You didn't barge into her shower, did you?" Aubrey said with a deliberate slowness. Chloe just shot her a sheepish look over her shoulder. "Oh, god. You did, didn't you?"

"I couldn't help it, Bree!" Chloe defended, knowing Aubrey was just giving her this _look_ in response. "You should've heard her. It was beautiful." She put the big spoon down and got out two bowls, arching an eyebrow at Aubrey to ask if she wanted some. Aubrey knew she didn't have much of a choice anyway and pushed herself off the wall to approach the stove. They dished up and went to the table; Chloe ate a few mouthfuls before speaking again. "I think she might really help us," she said, ignoring the way her skin crawled for what felt like two different reasons, only one of which she could give voice to - that was discomfort towards whatever it was that was off about the brunette. "Despite what you may think about her being 'too alternative' for us," she teased, winking at the blonde across from her.

Aubrey huffed, stirring her pasta without actually needing to. "Maybe. But I'm not yet convinced. I guess we'll see what happens at auditions."

They ate the rest of their meal mostly in silence, bidding each other goodnight before departing to their separate rooms. Chloe got into her pajamas and sat at her desk, checking her calendar. Then, with a mildly satisfied huff, she slipped into bed.

* * *

In the morning she woke to the smell of coffee; Aubrey had gotten up earlier than her, as usual, and even made some toast for her. The blonde left shortly after Chloe sat down to eat for her morning class, saying they would meet in the auditorium for auditions. Almost as soon as the door closed Chloe pulled out her phone and pressed the call button next to her mama's contact. She bit her lower lip lightly as it rang, staring down dejectedly at the tabletop.

Sometimes she really hated the thought that she couldn't change what she was.

It wasn't a thought she had super often - but sometimes it surfaced when she was feeling particularly hopeless about the chances of Aubrey returning her feelings. And her feelings weren't what was the problem. Out of all the things that really set her apart, being attracted to girls was actually probably the least unique aspect of her. The issue came with the whole, well... werewolf thing.

And dammit, sometimes Chloe just aca- _hated_ saying that word. It made her feel kind of like a beast, yes, but also like she shouldn't even exist - she was literally a creature that was supposed to only be in fairy tales and things like that. And her standing in her community didn't necessarily help. She'd been born into a prominent family that had the bloodline of "royalty", although not explicitly, since that wasn't how they ran things. It was just common that someone in her family was elected as the president of sorts of their pack, the ruling pack. Chloe was expected to take the role of leadership at one point, because she was the third born - it was tradition for the third born to be expected of such things, and she had two older brothers and a younger sister (not to mention her oldest brother and sister weren't actually like her). So even though she also was expected to graduate from college she also had to expect that she would one day, probably sooner rather than later (if she was being honest with herself), be the next pack leader. And that was actually a position she was honored to be considered for.

But it didn't make things much easier - the reality of it in general - when she wanted to _be_ with Aubrey. Mostly because she really didn't think Aubrey would go for something like that.

" _Hellooo? Chloe? Chloe, are you there_?"

She jumped a little at the sound of her mama's voice suddenly cutting through her thoughts, and she realized she totally hadn't even heard her pick up. "Sorry," she laughed, "I was just lost in thought. I'm here."

Mrs. Beale chuckled fondly. " _What's going on, sweetie? You haven't called in awhile_."

Chloe bit her lower lip again, this time to keep a sigh from tumbling out. "I just... wanted to talk to you," she said, sighing anyway, but mixing in a breathy laugh to keep it from sounding as sad as she worried it did. "Lately I've been feeling a little... overwhelmed."

" _Does this have to do with that Aubrey girl again_?" Mrs. Beale said knowingly, and Chloe could practically hear her mama's smirk through the phone.

"Yes, _and_ ," Chloe countered, "I met this other girl yesterday, and even though I didn't really interact with her all that much she made me feel really confused... it's like there's something _off_ about her, but she also sort of makes me feel similarly to how Aubrey makes me feel? I don't know - now that I say it out loud, it-"

" _It isn't unheard of_ ," Mrs. Beale interrupted, perhaps sensing that her daughter was starting to spiral a little. " _Having more than one mate, I mean. It doesn't happen too often - I think the last time I knew of anyone being in a relationship with_ two _people was when I was much younger_ ," she chuckled a little. " _You don't have to worry about that being weird, dear. At the very least you'll be accepted here, by your family and your pack_."

Chloe released a small breath of relief, feeling some previously unknown tension leaving her shoulders. She hadn't realized how much she needed to hear that. "Thanks, mama," she half-whispered. "Hearing you say that really makes me feel much better..."

" _So what's this other girl's name_?" Mrs. Beale squealed lightly.

"Beca," her daughter answered, giggling. Chloe knew that, no matter what, her mama would be happy as long as _she_ was happy.

" _Cute name_ ," Mrs. Beale half-purred. " _You'll have to keep me updated, Chlo, on both of them. Just give it time - if either of them, or_ both _of them are destined to be your mates, then they'll feel it, too. Since they're humans, though, the feelings will confuse them a lot more than they will you. Be prepared for that_."

Chloe nodded, mostly to herself since her mama couldn't actually see her. "I know. And I will. I should probably go now, though - auditions are later, and Aubrey won't like it if I'm late, and I think Beca might show up. She has a _beautiful_ singing voice, mama."

Mrs. Beale snorted. " _More so than Aubrey's_?"

"That's not fair!" Chloe cried. "I can't answer that!"

" _Which is a good sign_!" Mrs. Beale laughed. " _But I'll let you go. Good luck, sweetie_."

"Thanks, mama."

Chloe hung up, released a deep breath, and went to get ready for the day. She personally didn't have that many classes to get to - two before auditions, but they started a decent bit later than Aubrey's, and one in the afternoon - but she wanted to look her best. Even if auditions went as poorly as Aubrey was assuming they would she was going to dress her part as co-captain of the Bellas. That, and it was a good excuse to see if _she_ could make Aubrey flustered, and the same went for Beca if she was being totally honest with herself.

* * *

Later in the day, at auditions, things started off with her feeling fiercely proud of the way Aubrey stood up to Bumper just before it began. However, the feeling was slowly replaced by a bit of disappointment, as they kept seeing a bunch of people that just _weren't Beca_. She could tell that even Aubrey was disappointed, although that was probably more due to the fact that none of the girls they were seeing were "traditional Bella material" as she called it. But Chloe certainly thought the blonde was just as upset about not getting to see Beca there, no matter whatever Aubrey was going through on her own terms, so that was just her guess.

Then it was like the aca-gods were shining down on them, because at the very end of auditions Chloe caught sight of Beca lingering in the wings of the stage. "Wait," she called out to the two guys running it, "I think there's one more." She gestured Beca closer and the brunette shot her an odd look of thanks as she walked to the front of the stage.

"I didn't know we had to, like, prepare that song," she said uncertainly, boots echoing.

"That's okay," Chloe said with a grin, shaking her head and waving her hand a bit. Next to her Aubrey just observed silently, and if ever Chloe _really_ wanted to know what the blonde was thinking, it was now. "Sing whatever you like."

Beca crouched down and leaned towards the table they were sitting at, at the foot of the stage. "May I?" she asked, pointing to a cup that held a few pencils and pens. Both Chloe and Aubrey nodded and she took it, leaning back to sit cross legged. She gazed at them with those steely blue eyes and Chloe felt something akin to a chill - in the corner of her eye she saw Aubrey shiver a little, though it was obvious she was trying to keep it under control. Chloe just hoped she would end up agreeing with the fact that Beca sang beautifully.

In fact, she wasn't even entirely sure her friend was _breathing_ , while Beca started singing and doing her clapping thing with the cup. Chloe wasn't sure if she herself was breathing, but when she realized she wasn't, she made sure she started to. When Beca was done she sat there almost proudly and Chloe grinned.

 _How_ could Aubrey not let her in to the Bellas after this?

* * *

 _A/N: Well, there's the first chapter! Please let me know what you think, I'm always open for reviews. I'm writing this as I publish it so like I really don't think I'll have a schedule for updating, I'll just put the next chapter up whenever it's done. I tend to write longer chapters in general but I'll try not to for this. Also, sorry if this seems a bit choppy with all the time jumps, I'm just trying to fast-forward through some of the like establishing stuff.  
_


	2. Chapter II

**\+ II +**

Beca had seriously thought Aubrey actually meant it when she said they would be drinking the blood of Bellas who came before them, and that had certainly thrown her enough for her to still be thinking about it awhile later at the party in the amphitheater. Even if all thoughts in general had been thrown out the window from her latest encounter with Chloe; the redhead confused her. There was something about her that _produced_ that confusion, sure, but Beca couldn't figure it out when she was more focused on just not seeming like a total spaz in front of her. Then again, their sudden close proximity when Chloe had grabbed her did lead to her noticing a few things she thought were important, like the way Chloe's bright blue eyes practically glowed in the dark, and her grip was a lot stronger than Beca thought it would be.

It was mostly her eyes, though, that really got to Beca. They were so bright and had a lot of soul to them, it seemed. Beca would be lying if she said that staring into them hadn't been her downfall even if she also thought she handled things pretty smoothly. Talking to Jesse after Chloe left had soothed her raging mind some, and the drink certainly helped some. She watched everyone else from afar at first, smirking into her red solo cup when everyone broke out into song along with what was playing. What had she gotten herself into, honestly.

She spied wavy blonde hair amidst the crowd and she paid Aubrey a little bit more attention for a few moments. Though there totally seemed to be a stick up her ass she was also just as captivating as Chloe, in similar _and_ completely different ways. Beca thought she was probably in trouble - she was going to be spending a lot of time with not one but _two_ really attractive girls, and both of them just _did_ things to her.

Abandoning her drink in a nearby trashcan she weaved herself in among the others, figuring she'd enjoy this anyway. It wasn't really all that often that she socialized with people.

In the morning she leisurely made her way over to the rehearsal space, wondering what it was going to be like to work with the group she had sort of haphazardly joined. Based on her first encounter with Aubrey she was ready for it to be... interesting.

She sat in her chair and observed, for the most part, because sometimes that was just what she did best. She watched the way Aubrey took control of the room just by being in it, and the way Chloe watched the blonde just as carefully as Beca was. The redhead's eyes were bright like they had been the night before, in that way that made Beca narrow her own in vague confusion. There was just something about her she couldn't place...

She chimed in her incredulity about the oath they'd taken being so serious, sort of feeling like she needed to try harder to fit in, in some ways at least. Then Chloe had passed out the packet of papers listing songs they'd done and would do.

"There's nothing on here from this century," she said, smirking a little.

Aubrey pointedly ignored her. "We have a lot of work cut out for us," she went on. "I expect you all to work diligently and take this _very_ seriously. Shall we begin?"

Beca tried to take things seriously, she really did, but there was also just something about her whole situation that was just _hilarious_. She knew, though, that if she actually started laughing about it she'd also start bawling, and that was _not_ something she wanted to do. She had an image to uphold - a tough, hold-people-at-arm's-length kind of image. But that didn't mean it wasn't laughable that she was amidst all these other girls and none of them knew a _thing_ about her, which could maybe get a little dangerous eventually.

At the end of rehearsal she was surprised when Aubrey called her over. "What's up?" she asked, catching sight of Chloe hovering out of the corner of her eye. She was, like, 95% sure the redhead was giving her a look that was a glare and beaming happiness all in one.

"I'm not really sure I like your attitude," Aubrey half-huffed, staring Beca right in the eye, a look of regret flashing through her own. Beca had to remind herself not to smirk; she was aware of what typically happened when people looked her straight in the eye. The fact that it seemed to _really_ affect Aubrey made it even better. "And you're going to have to take out those ear monstrosities when we actually have a performance," Aubrey added harshly.

Beca narrowed her eyes playfully. "You really don't like me, do you? That's okay - I mean, I'm not really great at interacting with people all the time, so part of it is probably on me. But you also just lost two girls today, so I think you need _me_ more than I need _you_."

Aubrey visibly stiffened and her eyes darted over to look at Chloe, who was still watching them intently. The blonde huffed in annoyance. "You're right," she growled, "but that doesn't mean you just get to skate by. I was watching you today - do you think something about this is _funny_ , Beca?"

"Aside from the fact that we're an a cappella group? No, not really." Beca smirked. She had the feeling that whatever she was doing was a pretty bad idea, but she was never one to back down from a challenge, and Aubrey seemed intent on giving her a hard time. In her peripheral she caught sight of Chloe shaking her head slowly as if to tell her she _really_ needed to stop, probably before she gave their captain an aneurysm or something.

Aubrey opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She looked awfully flustered.

Holding up her hands in surrender, Beca shuffled backwards. "I'm sorry, alright? I won't make fun anymore. At least not much. I have been working hard, though, despite how I feel about this, so maybe you could stop giving me such a hard time?"

"She has a point, Bree," Chloe cut in softly, placing her hand on the blonde's upper arm.

"Fine," Aubrey snapped. She averted her gaze and left without another word.

Chloe sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "Aubrey's just been really worried about getting us to finals this year - it's a lot of pressure. You saw that video. She has a lot to make up for." Her lips turned up in a smile that asked gently for forgiveness on Aubrey's behalf. And Beca had seen the video - Lily had pulled it up when the topic of what happened last year had come up. _That_ had been a little funny, but she would also admit (to herself, privately) that she felt bad for Aubrey. She couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would be to vomit _into the crowd_ at an important performance, not to mention the fact that it lost them a big win, and the seniors in the group had most definitely been furious. Beca was glad she'd missed actually being there for something like that. She hoped (again, privately) that this year there would be no reason for Aubrey to experience something like that, or ever again.

"Yeah, no, it's okay," Beca said. "I get why she'd be... weird about all this." She ran a hand through her hair a bit awkwardly; it felt like she and Chloe were having an impromptu staring match, and both of them knew they were doing it, but neither of them had actually initiated anything. It looked to her like Chloe was searching for something within her eyes, and she realized she was doing the same.

Then, without warning, Chloe straightened a little and grinned widely. "Thank you for understanding, Beca," she chirped. "I appreciate that you seem to care about helping Aubrey get there again - and not just her, but all of the Bellas." There was something pretty passive aggressive about her tone that made Beca bristle. She swept on, though, her grin kicked up a notch, before Beca could say anything. Beca realized then that everyone else had already left and she was now standing there alone; growling a little under her breath she made for the doors, staring down at her feet as she walked.

Fat Amy suddenly leapt out at her once she reached the doors, causing her to jump in surprise. "'Sup, short stack," she greeted, nonchalantly brushing a little hair out of her face.

Beca laughed, still a little taken aback. "Hey."

"I thought I'd walk with ya," Amy said, waggling her eyebrows and gesturing for Beca to follow her. She did, rolling her eyes in amusement. They walked a few paces in silence before Amy spoke up again. "So, what do you think's up with our captains?" she asked.

Beca scowled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like, are they... you know." Beca just stared at her, because no, she did not know. Amy's eyebrows rose slowly and she elaborated, "Like, banging."

A half-surprised, half-incredulous snort made its way past Beca's defenses. "Why would you even say that?" she said, minding her tone so it didn't come off as a snap.

Amy shrugged and her brows furrowed. "You can't tell me you didn't see the way Chloe was staring at Aubrey. Then again, it kinda seems like Chloe stares at _everyone_ like that... Have you noticed how intense her eyes are? When I look into them-" she gestured broadly as she spoke "-I'm reminded of this time I was wrestling a dingo while two kangaroos humped in the background. They share the same intensity as the situation had, too."

"That's... very Australian," Beca chuckled. Her mind took a moment to really think on Amy's words, because she was right. There _was_ an intensity to Chloe's eyes that seemed totally unnatural. And Beca knew there was a _reason_ for that.

"Yeah," Amy said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal. "But you haven't answered my question. Do you think they're a thing?"

"Aubrey and Chloe? No. I mean..." Beca swiped her tongue over her teeth as she paused to come up with the best words to phrase what she wanted to say. Hearing Amy speak of their captain and co-captain like this was making her frustrated, and she realized she was... jealous. "It does seem like Chloe _wants_ them to be a thing, but I really don't know. Maybe you're reading into it too much?"

Amy shook her head. "One of us is _bound_ to be a lesbian, though," she countered.

Beca thought that was funny much in the way rehearsal had been, just a little bit less so.

"You know," Amy continued, "statistically."

"Sure. Yeah, that's totally a possibility." Beca refocused on where they had ended up as they were walking kind of aimlessly; her body felt heavy from the prolonged exposure to sunlight and she knew it was time to find some shade for a little while, let herself recharge. "Hey, I better go, but it was nice talking to you," she said to Amy, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder even though there wasn't a point for her to go in that direction.

"Yeah, nice talking to you, too, short stack," Amy replied. She waved and continued on in the direction they'd been going in.

Beca let out a sigh but cut herself off. She moved quickly - but not overtly so - towards a nearby tree to relieve herself of the sun's rays, breathing in relief when she was underneath its leaves. She only needed a few minutes before she could go back to her dorm. Then she would be safe until nighttime.

Her eyes perused what she could see of this part of campus, and she slid down the tree's trunk to sit on the cool grass. There were a few clusters of students studying or doing homework on the grass, and a small group was playing with a Frisbee. She inspected them curiously. Having been around for a couple centuries she was always interested in the way people _acted_ , because there were differences and similarities in just about everything she saw over time. Since she wasn't technically human anymore it made it all the more... entertaining, at times. For so long she'd hidden herself away because she didn't think she could handle being around people, she would just be too uncomfortable and maybe obvious. But that had been lonely. The decision to go to _college_ of all places had been a premeditated idea.

She needed a break from her own kind.

As a whole, vampires weren't all that bad - they distanced themselves from humans unless they absolutely needed to be around them, which really wasn't often, and there was relative peace between the clans. They were just really good at staying hidden, because most of them had been doing that pretty much forever anyway. Beca disagreed that they needed to keep to themselves so much. She thought interacting with humans wasn't such a bad thing as long as they stayed in _control_. It wasn't even that difficult a feat. They could definitely coexist with humans, and when she thought of it, they could probably coexist with _werewolves_ too. It confused her more than it probably should that there was a weird hostility between them, since it wasn't like anything had gone wrong. No wars had been fought or anything stupid like that. Vampires and werewolves just didn't like each other. It was basically racism on an altered level.

She got up from the ground. Being out in the daylight made her _tired_ , but it wasn't so bad. Still, it would be nice to get back to her dorm.

* * *

Halfway through the next day she got a text from Chloe in a group message, inviting all the Bellas over to her and Aubrey's apartment dorm that evening. There would be alcohol and card games. The idea was that they were going to bond some more outside of the stress of rehearsing, to strengthen their harmonizing. Beca saw nothing wrong with that, but she bit her lip out of anxiety anyway. At the very least, this was going to be interesting.

After her last class she went back to her dorm to freshen up a little, then found her way to Chloe and Aubrey's front door without much trouble. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, knocked, and slipped her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. Aubrey opened the door with an exasperated expression and Beca suddenly got the idea that Chloe hadn't exactly asked if the Bellas could all come over. It was a Friday, so there probably wasn't much worry on that front, but Beca supposed she understood how irritating it would be to have something like this sprung on her. Aubrey was certainly a control freak, so therefore this couldn't be something she was a fan of.

She didn't offer Beca much greeting, only stood to the side to let her in, but she scowled in confusion - mostly annoyance, actually - when Beca didn't move. "What are you doing?" she asked, sort of laughing in disbelief.

"Uh..." Beca drawled, glancing upwards. "Just, you know... waiting to be invited in."

"Why?"

She pursed her lips. "Because it's polite?"

Aubrey narrowed her eyes, relenting a second later with a sigh that sounded a decent bit like a growl. "Fine. Come in, Beca."

Beca shot her a small smirk as she walked past the threshold. "Thanks."

"There are drinks in a cooler in the kitchen," Aubrey said, pointing. "Help yourself, but please don't make a mess."

"I promise to try," Beca responded genuinely, making her way in the direction of the kitchen. On her way she passed the living room where she found Chloe, Stacie, Jessica and Ashley; she waved to them in response to their chorus of greetings. Then, with a beer in hand, she joined Stacie on the floor on the other side of the coffee table.

"I'm so glad you came, Beca!" Chloe giggled, her cheeks a little flushed and indicating that she had already consumed a decent amount of alcohol. Beca just smirked, raising her bottle in a half-assed cheers. "We're just playing uno right now," the redhead continued, nodding to the cards spread out on the table. "If you want you can jump in!"

"Yeah, why not," Beca grunted, getting seven cards from the face-down pile.

Aubrey came in a few minutes later, tapping her fingers against a bottle held close to her chest, expression blank. Beca could see in her pale green eyes that she didn't quite know what to do with herself. She just hovered, keeping her distance, until another knock on the door pulled her away. They didn't need to know who had arrived - Fat Amy bellowed in joy the second they heard the click of the door opening, and she bounded into the living room with a six-pack of beer in each hand, followed by Cynthia-Rose and Lily. Aubrey reappeared as Fat Amy distributed cans to everyone already there, looking really flustered now.

"What are y'all doing, playing _uno_?" Cynthia-Rose huffed, scrunching up her nose in distaste. "Nah, we're playing poker. I brought my own deck." She produced a pack of cards from seemingly nowhere, resulting in a few drunken cheers and another loud shout from Fat Amy.

As everyone got settled (Beca and Stacie chanted "chug!" as Amy downed a beer real fast, after her comment about needing to "catch up") Chloe got up and stumbled over to Aubrey. "Come on, Bree!" she giggled, grabbing the blonde's wrist and gently pulling her towards the others. "We agreed this was a good idea, but that means you have to _participate_. Here, sit between Beca and I."

Beca perked up a little at that, watching as Aubrey huffed in defeat and sat down on the floor, brushing her knee against her own as she crossed her legs. Chloe sat as well, and she and Beca made distinct eye-contact for a second. Beca swore she felt a crackle of electricity or something go through the air. She thought maybe Chloe felt it as well; the redhead quivered a little and frowned very briefly, all in the span of the same second. Then her eyes fell away and she was grinning again. Beca turned her gaze to where she was looking, training it on Cynthia-Rose's hands as she distributed cards.

"You guys!" Fat Amy suddenly gasped. "Should we play _strip_ poker?" she suggested coyly, licking her lips suggestively.

"Absolutely not," Aubrey half-snapped.

"Oh, lighten up, Aub _rey_ ," Amy whined, placing a weird stress on the second syllable of the blonde's name, and receiving a chorus of similar whines - a chorus Beca happily joined in on. "How else are we gonna bond and shit if we aren't gonna see each other's down unders?"

"There are plenty of other ways to become closer as a group," Aubrey said shrilly.

"Yeah, but they're, like, _so_ not as fun," Stacie huffed with a lavish eye-roll.

Aubrey blushed slightly and Beca heard her heart rate increase. For a second the sound and the feel of it surging through the sliver of space between their knees really distracted her; she blinked and sluggishly refocused herself. Aubrey had yet to say anything.

"Get some more jiggle juice in your system," Chloe prompted, slurring her words a tiny bit. Her tone was similarly suggestive.

"I don't-" Aubrey began, but she cut herself off with a yelp as her hands snapped up to block the beer Fat Amy tossed in her direction. She fumbled with catching it and her blush increased as everyone laughed. Shaking her head, she opened the beer - making sure to point it _away_ from herself - and took a large gulp of it. Beca noticed she had yet to finish the beer she already had resting in front of her. It somehow hadn't spilled in her attempt to catch the other one. Beca removed her attention from the blonde, though, knowing that it wasn't necessarily the best idea to let herself get lost in the constant drum of her heartbeat. Unfortunately for her, it was in that moment that she also picked up on Chloe's. The sound of it rushing through her own, still bloodstream gave her a pleasant chill. She flicked her gaze back onto the redhead. This time they didn't make eye contact.

"Alright, let's get this shit started," Cynthia-Rose said, lips quirking up into an open-mouthed smirk. Beca took a swig of her own beer and settled in. This was where her ages of "acting" came into play.

* * *

 _A/N: Just so y'all know, I don't have like a beta reader or anything, so if there are any mistakes I'm sorry. I tend to reread the chapter before publishing it but I still miss things sometimes, so sorry about that. If you notice any glaring mistakes let me know!_ **  
**

 _I was really motivated by some positive reviews and such, so here's the second chapter already. I had fun writing the last half, and I'm not sorry for ending it on a cliff hanger lol. Let me now what you think! Also let me know if you guys are wanting longer chapters, because I've been trying to keep them a bit on the short side, but if you think there needs to be more I'll definitely take that into consideration.  
_


	3. Chapter III

**\+ III +**

Aubrey _really_ should have stopped after, like, three beers.

Instead she found herself drinking... well, she'd sort of lost count. Which is why she knew she should have stopped. Fat Amy just kept passing her drinks, and Chloe seemed really happy every time she (reluctantly) accepted them, and being seated between the redhead and Beca was already intoxicating enough that she was honestly surprised she hadn't passed out yet or something. Because she was super drunk and it was aca-ridiculous.

Then again, it did help her to loosen up some, and she thought she got the feeling that the new Bellas were starting to warm up to her more. The idea of strip poker had lost its momentum surprisingly quickly since hardly any of them knew how to play just _regular_ poker, and Cynthia-Rose wasn't really in the mood to teach everyone. She would much rather get her drink on and watch them play uno instead. So that's where things fell, but then - and Aubrey had no idea how this happened - they were out on the sidewalk in front of their dorm building with an office chair presumably from _her_ room, and a fire extinguisher they'd probably stolen from... somewhere. They didn't have one in their dorm despite all of Aubrey's nagging that they should _really have one_ in case something happened. Chloe had proved to be quite careful in that regard. Still, none of that helped her right now.

When she was doubled over laughing as Stacie flew off the chair.

Fat Amy, of course, had been the one brave enough to go first. The result was her flying backwards a few feet on the chair and then tipping over when the wheels hit the edge of the grass. Somehow, when Stacie just spun around a few times and tumbled onto the sidewalk, it was just as funny, if not more. In sparing seconds of sobriety Aubrey was certain that she wouldn't find any of this as humorous if she was _glaringly_ sober, but she wasn't. She was _far_ from it. And she continued laughing as Lily took the extinguisher and sat on the chair, wondering _why_ it seemed to be a problem for the sober self still clinging to life in her that she was laughing so much. Shouldn't she be glad to find this closeness with the new Bellas?

"Aubrey's next!" Amy roared, pumping the extinguisher in the air after Lily had tumbled off as well. The quiet girl had said _something_ none of them could even begin to hear as she laid on her back on the grass, and now attention was swiftly shifting onto Aubrey as everyone shouted their agreement to Amy's suggestion.

And _there_ was sober Aubrey again, resurfacing a little as she shook her head. "No, I - no," she giggled, unable to think of better words to express how much she did _not_ want to partake in this. Watching the others do it was one thing - doing it herself was another.

"Seriously, Aubrey, you're _so_ close to _not_ being uptight," Beca scoffed.

If Aubrey didn't know any better she would say the brunette was actually completely sober, but she knew that wasn't possible. She'd seen Beca drink just about as many beers as she had before everything started blurring together a little. "I am so _not_ going to sit on that chair," Aubrey drawled, rolling her eyes. Even so she felt a lazy grin stretch across her features; she blamed it on catching sight of Chloe's expression. The redhead was simply radiant in the mixture of moonlight and the sidewalk lamp above them, her eyes shimmering and basically glowing. Aubrey had seen them like that before, but they still confused her. Eyes didn't just _glow_. She shook her head again.

"Yes you are!" Stacie said, then she started shouting it like a chant, pumping her fist in the air. Amy joined in and thrust her own arms into the air with the extinguisher in time with Stacie's fist, and soon everyone was shouting, and Aubrey just couldn't ignore peer pressure when she was this drunk. She relented by holding her hands up and approaching the chair, giggling a little at the sound of cheering replacing the chant.

Once she actually sat down she squirmed, the last bit of sobriety in her protesting weakly towards her decision. Amy shoved the extinguisher in her arms. Everyone went silent in anticipation as she positioned herself, thinking to take a small deep breath before she pressed her hand down around the clamp, causing compressed air to shoot out and propel her into rapid, utterly dizzying circles. She heard herself and the others laughing joyously as she spun and spun and spun and-

She yelped as the chair flew out from underneath her and she hit the ground, laughter returning as she laid on her back and rolled side to side. When she opened her eyes (though she didn't even know when she closed them) she saw the rest of the Bellas standing above her.

"That was effin' _awesome_!" Amy practically shrieked.

"Yeah, go Aubrey," Beca chuckled, offering her hand to Aubrey to help her up. The brunette's eyes glinted a little in the light, seeming to flash with some silver. Aubrey took her hand and fell into the smaller girl once she was back on her feet, giggling at her own inability to stand upright. For a second she thought she saw Chloe narrow those blue eyes of hers at them - the look was gone instantly and Aubrey was left wondering whether or not she'd actually seen it. She brushed some hair out of her face, realizing she was panting.

Cynthia-Rose retrieved the extinguisher. "Alright, who's next?"

"Oh - oh, w-wait," Beca suddenly stammered, moving surprisingly quickly away from Aubrey's side. Her wide-eyed gaze was snapping back and forth between her hand and Aubrey. "You're bleeding," she explained in a breathy whisper.

Scowling, Aubrey inspected her own hand. There was a scrape on the heel of her hand and her elbow as well. It wasn't bleeding steadily or anything, and she couldn't actually feel any pain or sting to it, but Beca's sudden discomfort gave her pause. "I'm fine," she tried to reassure the brunette. "It isn't bad at all. See? It's basically dry already." She held her hand up and Beca recoiled, her eyes flashing. Aubrey _seriously_ thought she saw a bit of silver in them again... but she was drunk. What did she know at this point?

"It - no, you should go back inside and clean that up," Beca argued. Her small frame seemed to be vibrating and her lips were twitching.

"Don't be a party pooper, Beca!" Amy groaned. "Aubrey _said_ she's fine."

Chloe stepped up then. "No, hold on. Maybe Beca's right - this is probably like a sign that we need to find something less dangerous to do. Come on, let's all go inside. I bet someone's already called campus security to complain about the noise at this point anyway." She started to lead the way back to the dorm, gently escorting Aubrey all the way. Aubrey was suddenly too tired to really care. The gesture was definitely sweet, but she felt confused. Chloe had _also_ been drinking just as much and yet she _also_ didn't seem nearly as wasted as everyone else, just like Beca, who was now giving Aubrey a pretty wide berth. Seeing that sort of hurt Aubrey; she opened her mouth to say something to the brunette but Chloe pulled her in the direction of their bathroom, abruptly shoving her hand under a cold stream of water and making her hiss. _Now_ she felt the sting.

"Heeyyyy," she whined, stomping a foot, "that _hurts_ , Chloe!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Chloe murmured, but she didn't look up. She put some soap on the minor wounds and ran them under the water again. "I'm also sorry for pressuring you so much tonight," she added, almost too quiet for Aubrey to hear her.

"What?" she said anyway.

Chloe glanced up at her then and smiled. "I'm sorry for encouraging Amy into giving you all those drinks, and for letting them take your office chair outside for those shenanigans. I'll go grab it as soon as I'm done cleaning your scrapes."

Aubrey scowled, her lower lip jutting out in a pout. Her foggy brain just couldn't seem to comprehend Chloe's words. "But you're _drunk_ , Chloe," she muttered. Focusing enough she could actually tell that the redhead wasn't slurring anymore and she just looked a hell of a lot more sober. Aubrey wondered when that had happened.

"Yeah, well... let's just say I sobered up pretty quickly seeing you hurt."

She blinked. Okay, now she _really_ felt like she was moments away from passing out. Chloe looked up and their gazes locked. Even when they weren't outside her eyes glowed, just not as obviously; her nose was quivering, her brows furrowed in concern that only increased. Aubrey had a pretty good feeling that she wasn't looking too good in general. She snapped into a moment of self-awareness and flushed in embarrassment, certain that her hair was ruffled and knotted, and her clothes were skewed. Now she was bleeding all over the place - except not, because it really wasn't that bad of a scrape.

"I think it's time you went to bed," Chloe giggled, smile returning. Aubrey looked down and realized two Band-Aids had been placed over her scrapes while she had been busy staring into space. Chloe hadn't stayed still long enough for her to continue staring into wide blue eyes.

"Okay," she sighed.

Chloe nodded and pulled her out of the bathroom. They detoured to the living room and the redhead announced, "I'm gonna tuck Aubrey in - you guys are welcome to crash in here, if you're too comfortable to leave." She glanced around and Aubrey did too. They noticed at the same time that someone was missing. "Where's Beca?" Chloe asked.

"Short stack left," Amy replied. "Said she wasn't feeling too good all of a sudden..."

Again, Chloe nodded, much more slowly this time. Aubrey was _certain_ that she was still relatively drunk, at least to the point that her thoughts were muddied up. It was evident in the way her eyes suddenly couldn't focus, and it looked like she couldn't quite understand why Beca had left, despite Amy having just told them. She shook herself a little and nudged Aubrey back in the direction of the bedrooms; the others called after them a few goodnight's that Aubrey slurred out an incoherent response to.

She fell face first on her bed with a groan, suddenly lacking the strength to stay on her own two feet. Chloe giggled again as she haphazardly yanked the blankets out from underneath her to throw them over her body. The sheets were cool and Aubrey realized how hot she felt. Her pulse thrummed in her temples, and she turned her head to watch Chloe leave and then return with a glass of water and an ibuprofen that she left on the nightstand. Aubrey rolled onto her back; her mind was whirling and a headache was just _barely_ starting to form already. She felt like there was something she needed to say, and she opened her mouth despite not quite being able to prepare words, trusting herself to come up with _something_.

"Thank you for forcing me to do this," she sighed, stopping Chloe in her tracks - the redhead was just moving to leave, but she stopped the _second_ Aubrey uttered a single syllable.

"For the record, I never forced you to do anything," Chloe countered teasingly.

Aubrey shook her head. "No, it was good that we did this... as drunk as I am, I feel like the Bellas are feeling a bit better about me."

Chloe arched an eyebrow. "They're gonna crash from their high when sober Aubrey starts bossing them around again," she huffed lightly. Aubrey made a sound of disagreement, pressing the side of her face into her pillow and closing her eyes. She felt a dip in the mattress and instantly opened them again to see Chloe sitting on the edge of the bed. "Are you doing alright? You're really flushed," the redhead murmured.

"I'm fine," Aubrey breathed. "I... why did Beca leave so suddenly?"

The look in Chloe's eyes changed from concern to confusion. "I don't know. She didn't seem like she was feeling unwell at all. Maybe she, like, got really tired all of a sudden. I highly doubt her tiny body can function well with all the alcohol she had." Even as she spoke her eyes narrowed and she seemed to forget she wasn't alone for a second, because she glared at the wall above Aubrey's head, her lips moving like she was speaking to herself. Aubrey sat up a tiny bit to hear her better but the sound - however minute it was - snapped the redhead back into awareness of her surroundings. She swayed lightly and grinned. "You can sleep in tomorrow morning if you want. I'll take care of cleaning up, since this was my idea, and make sure anyone who stays over gets home safe. Just sleep, Aubrey."

Aubrey could only nod in consent.

"Goodnight," Chloe whispered, standing.

"Goodnight."

Chloe left, turning the light off on her way.

For a good while Aubrey didn't move a single muscle, unless it was blinking, or licking her dry lips. She _couldn't_ move, really. Something in her brain wasn't working enough for her to do so, instead devoting time to trying to figure out what it was she was feeling. After awhile, though, tiredness won out and she rolled onto her side to snuggle deeper into her blankets.

Even sober Aubrey wouldn't predict how bad the morning hangover would be.

* * *

Almost since the moment she was born, Aubrey's father had a plan for her. She would follow in his footsteps in becoming a lawyer, fixing her older brother's mistake of deciding to become an investigative journalist - Aubrey personally didn't think there was anything wrong with that, even if her brother's travels took him to dangerous places in order for him to get across a meaningful, thought-provoking story. But that, for some reason, just didn't sit well with their father. Hence the pressure for Aubrey to be the poster child in an almost robot-like sense.

She had struggled with finding a balance between still feeling and yet not feeling at all for the longest time, and though she thought she found a pretty good sweet spot entering college, _nothing_ could have prepared her for meeting Chloe Beale. Chloe was exuberant and full of boundless, happy energy. She also didn't know the meaning of personal boundaries (even if, at this point, Aubrey found it harder and harder to be irritated by that particular part of her).

So the peace within herself that she had sought for so much and had sort of established was warped, and she was left with the confusion of suddenly feeling more than she was honestly used to. After about a year of knowing Chloe she _was_ able to acknowledge the reality of her feelings, but that didn't mean anything to her - at least, that was what she told herself. Because that wasn't her father's plan. She knew he wanted her to marry someone respectable and in a decent profession (unlike her brother), and in all truthfulness she assumed he meant he wanted her to marry a _man_. If she brought Chloe home she was almost certain her father would disown her, even if he'd never really talked about his thoughts on same sex relationships to the point where she would feel comfortable with so much as bringing it up in conversation. Besides, her own opinion on it was that sexuality was a fluid thing, so she didn't want to label herself or anything at this point in her life.

No matter how sure she was that she did _not_ want to be with any more men, and that she and Chloe almost _belonged_ to each other.

But... that was also before she met Beca.

The brunette made her feel a whole new bout of confusing things both sexually and in, like, every other way possible, actually. In turn she was finding herself uncertain about where she stood feeling-wise with Chloe; it was all mostly intensified towards _both_ of them to the point where she sort of thought she couldn't function not being near either of them, and that oddness was usually sated by being with one or the other. None of that even _started_ to explain all the other strange things about Chloe and Beca that she was slowly noticing.

She first noticed it with Chloe, since she'd known the redhead for a few years now. Chloe was one of the only people Aubrey knew who didn't seem to hide _anything_ about herself, and yet Aubrey still got the sense that there was something she was neglecting to tell anyone. It wasn't that she was actually keeping whatever it was a secret, just that nobody could bring it up because nobody knew _how_ to. Aubrey had felt that way rather quickly upon meeting Chloe; there was just something about her that was _remarkably_ different without being obvious enough for anyone, including Aubrey, to give name to. And the same went for Beca. As drunk as she had been, Aubrey had _seen_ it a few days prior when all the Bellas had come over. It was too similar to whatever Chloe was keeping to herself to not be noticed. Then again, Aubrey thought that maybe she was the only one in their group who saw it. None of the other Bellas had commented on Beca's abrupt departure, and anything they said about Chloe's weirdness only applied to her (sometimes overly) bubbly nature.

Now, during today's rehearsal, Aubrey could see that Beca was still maintaining about a foot or two of space between them at all times, deferring to Chloe whenever she needed direct help with choreography even though the redhead was a lot more touchy when it came to that than Aubrey was. It hurt to see the brunette continue to distance herself, but Aubrey wouldn't admit that out loud or anything. Except that made her a bit bitter, and refraining from asking Beca about it just made her act more hostile towards the other girl.

" _What_ part of two steps to the right after a pivot do you not understand, Beca?!" she snapped, advancing on her to glower at her at a closer range.

Beca arched an eyebrow. "I get my directions mixed up sometimes. Sorry, dude."

"Well _fix it_ ," Aubrey growled. "Regional's are fast approaching and we need to have this _down_ or else we aren't going to advance!"

"Yeah, okay. You're right, Aubrey. Take a chill pill."

Something about Beca's seemingly forced uses of slang irked Aubrey. She surveyed the brunette's expression for a second to try to detect any hints of sarcasm or disrespect. There was none to be found, but she did notice Beca's hands were trembling at her sides, and her steel blue eyes were a slightly darker shade than usual. She looked... hungry. Aubrey frowned slightly and gave a little huff, turning to the rest of the group. "Why don't we all take a ten minute break. Everyone eat a snack and get some water." The Bellas dispersed towards their chairs with grateful groans followed by some mutterings she chose to ignore. She made sure they were doing as she asked as she got out her water bottle and took a few swigs, narrowing her eyes once they fell on Beca and saw her fiddling with her phone. "Beca," she snapped.

"What now, Aubrey?" the brunette sighed, meeting her gaze.

"Snack. Water. Now."

Beca scowled. "Geez, okay. What's up with you?"

"You looked hungry just a second ago," Aubrey explained, feeling herself flush lightly.

She hadn't expected Beca to freeze up a little and widen her eyes in response, but she did, and they were having a sort of staring match wherein neither of them moved and Beca swallowed nervously. "I... didn't bring any food with me," she said after a few seconds, shrugging weakly and running a hand through her hair almost self-consciously.

Aubrey rolled her eyes and grabbed a protein bar from her bag to toss it to the brunette, who caught it and muttered a "thank you" so quietly it could rival Lily's regular speaking voice. Usually Aubrey reserved the extra bar for Chloe since the redhead practically inhaled calories every hour or so to keep her energy up. Never before had Aubrey known anyone who needed to eat so much, and she had already contemplated why that was on numerous occasions - it just didn't seem normal. The output of energy didn't even directly correlate to the input of calories. As far as Aubrey was concerned, the only physical exercise Chloe typically got was within Bellas rehearsals.

And now she was watching Beca as she nibbled gingerly at the protein bar like she _wasn't_ hungry in the slightest. In fact, now that Aubrey thought of it, she hadn't seen Beca eat before now. The mystery that was both Beca and Chloe just got deeper. She shook her head at herself, willing her mind to quiet.

Once the ten minutes was up rehearsal went back to normal, and Aubrey delighted in seeing Beca start to get a better hang of the choreography. It concluded on a happier note of a sense of achievement - everything was going _much_ smoother.

Aubrey was just gathering her things when she got the feeling someone was standing behind her; she turned to see Beca just staring at her with a vaguely awkward expression, her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

"Sorry for kinda bailing the other night," she said before Aubrey could so much as open her mouth to ask what the aca-hell she was doing, since it was honestly a little creepy.

"And yet you didn't apologize for it Monday?" Aubrey countered.

Beca's eyes ping-ponged back and forth between her own like she was searching for frustration, so Aubrey smiled a little to signal that she was only kidding. "Well," Beca half-laughed, running a hand through her hair - a nervous tick, most likely, "I didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time. I mean, it wasn't like I _had_ to stay the night or anything. But Amy said you and Chloe seemed upset about it, so I thought I'd apologize."

"Why did Amy think we were upset?" Aubrey asked, reminding herself to maybe talk to the Australian girl herself. It made her feel weird to think any of the other Bellas could have noticed anything along the lines of attraction from her towards Beca, no matter whether or not they were possibly _right_. Thinking that someone perhaps saw that from both Aubrey _and_ Chloe only increased the feeling. Aubrey almost didn't tune back in to the present in time to hear Beca's response, much too distracted by her own thoughts.

"I don't really know - but it's Amy we're talking about, so it could be anything." Beca narrowed her eyes playfully and leaned in closer to speak in a conspiratorial whisper. "I think she reads too deep into things."

Aubrey smiled a tight lipped smile. Another thing she'd noticed about being around Beca was that, regardless of how much she felt like she for some reason _needed_ to be around her, there was only so much time with her she could realistically handle. Being in her presence for too long resulted in her heart rate increasing as butterflies overtook her stomach - a feeling she usually associated with Chloe, and in fact still felt around the redhead even more intensely. It was as if Chloe was fire lapping at Aubrey's skin, but Beca was gasoline that was steadily being poured over her. And it certainly didn't help that Aubrey literally kind of felt like her skin was way too hot when she was with either or both of them. Right now she needed to get away.

"She probably does, but I also wouldn't want any rumors to crop up. The Barden Bellas are a sisterhood, and sisters don't spread rumors," she said resolutely.

Beca hummed, the sound reverberating through Aubrey's ears and making her shiver lightly. "I actually think sisters are a lot more likely to spread rumors about each other, but I don't have any siblings, so what do I know?" She glanced over her shoulder; the auditorium was empty now, save for Chloe, who was standing at the doorway and staring down at her phone with a concentrated frown. "Well, I'm gonna head out... see you tomorrow, Aubrey," Beca said, offering a slight wave and a tiny smirk before turning and heading towards the door. She paused long enough to exchange a few words with Chloe - Aubrey frowned upon seeing the way Chloe grinned at the brunette - and then she left.

"Did she finally apologize to you too?" Chloe said once Aubrey reached her, holding the door open for the blonde to exit first.

"Yes," Aubrey murmured. "What do you mean, 'finally'?"

Chloe shrugged. "She apologized to me yesterday, but said she didn't really know how to approach you," she explained. "I told her to just come right out and say it 'cause you appreciate it when people get to the point."

Aubrey nodded - she did like that - but she took a few moments to think before she said anything, knowing Chloe would wait for her until she did. "Chloe, do you think there's something... off, about Beca?" she asked, picking her gaze up from her feet to look into a pair of bright blue eyes. There was another similarity and difference between Chloe and Beca all in one. They both had intense blue eyes that could somehow glow or shimmer, but the shades were drastically varied, and the majority of feelings Aubrey could discern from them were never the same as the other.

"What do you mean?" Chloe said, brows furrowing.

"There's just - I don't even know how to explain it, but... it's _something_."

She watched as Chloe turned her head away and bit down on her lower lip. "I'm not sure. I think I've noticed it too, though."

Chloe didn't speak for the rest of the walk to their dorm, and even then she tucked herself away into her room until late in the evening, when she emerged to sit at the couch and turned the TV on to watch a few episodes of Law & Order (something Aubrey found the teensiest bit ironic, since she was the one who was supposed to be the lawyer and yet she couldn't _stand_ the show, which she knew upset Chloe as it was one of her favorites). Aubrey sat at the kitchen table and could see her from there; she hardly even realized she'd stood and moved until she blinked and saw that she was facing the calendar they'd hung up on one of the cabinets, to organize scheduling. She wasn't sure what she was looking for as she stared at it a bit blankly, trying to figure out what it was that compelled her to get up when she had a paper to write. Turning, she angled herself to look at Chloe again. After knowing her throughout the past years she knew there was always a time of the month that the redhead got exceptionally weird, and didn't even have anything to do with _that_ time of the month. Chloe was actually startlingly calmer when she was on her period than any other time, so whatever the other thing was had zero explanation. Aubrey scowled and returned to her laptop at the kitchen table.

Out of nowhere she got the idea that she should ask _Beca_ about it, of all people, but she dismissed the thought. How on earth would the brunette have any answers?

Except it really bothered Aubrey that she had absolutely no clue why Chloe would get so weird, because it resulted in her missing out on almost an entire day afterwards, and she was always utterly _exhausted_ when or if she showed up to rehearsal. Aubrey would have none of that during such an important year for the Bellas. Diligence was required if they had any hope of having their shit together for regional's and every performance following.

Most of all, though, she didn't like thinking that there was something that her best friend wasn't telling her. Which was probably pretty hypocritical of her, but she couldn't quite bring herself to care when all these questions that she'd almost forgotten in regards to Chloe were resurfacing again, and they were only getting worse because of Beca.

* * *

 _A/N: If this seemed a little denser, that's only because I really wanted to delve into Aubrey's feelings and thoughts, since Chloe and Beca can only speculate on what's going on with her. I also wanted to explain why she was so hesitant to pursue a relationship with Chloe prior to meeting Beca...  
_

 _Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter. Please send me reviews, as I love the support and they make me happy! Furthermore, I've decided to try to aim for updating every other day, but I'm attempting to write about two chapters in between to stay ahead of myself just in case things come up.  
_


	4. Chapter IV

**\+ IV +**

It was usually fairly easy for Chloe to block out smells and sounds to give her highly sensitive nose and ears a break, but she also had a subconscious knack for seeking out specific things that she was interested in. Like, in the morning, even if she woke up early she tended to stay in her room until she heard Aubrey's door open, followed by the bathroom door closing, so she could prepare coffee; later she would seek out the smell of the shampoo and body wash the blonde used once she turned the water off (so she only used the dorm bathrooms when absolutely necessary, i.e. when Aubrey was taking forever). Or like how she paid more attention to the way the grass smelled after it was freshly cut, or the crisp air and changing leaves as fall progressed - or, hell, any sounds signaling a Treblemaker getting closer so she would have ample time to warn Aubrey in case Bumper wanted to start a verbal sparring match. And yeah, she would be willing to admit that another one of those things she sought out was the smell of herself and the Bellas sweating during rehearsal. It was one way she knew they were working hard, so if need be she could reign Aubrey in a little and encourage a break.

But she was really stumped when she realized she couldn't pick up the smell of Beca sweating. It admittedly took her a few rehearsals, and they were well into their time together as a group when she noticed it, but seriously! How could someone just _not_ sweat? The second she realized it she quickly found a chance to ask Aubrey if they could take a ten minute break, just to be sure that her nose wasn't somehow playing tricks on her, however much she doubted that was the case.

"We're really starting to get somewhere, though," Aubrey said in response to her request, panting lightly from the slight exertion of their pre-rehearsal cardio workout. In the time it took her to answer it was obvious the other Bellas took immediate advantage of the distraction. "Regional's is _next week_ , Chlo."

"I know," Chloe assured, holding her hands up. "I'm sorry to ask, but I thought I'd go around and check on everyone. If someone's feeling super stressed don't you think we should know?" She gazed at Aubrey imploringly, throwing in a hopeful smile.

And even if she had no clue about Aubrey's exact feelings for her, she knew the blonde would typically succumb to a look like that - not to mention she was bound to respond to a challenge towards her leadership skills. "Alright," she conceded, waving a hand flippantly but also softening her expression. "Let's take ten, girls," she called out to the others.

Chloe immediately moved to the nearest people, Jessica and Ashley, but passed them by quickly. She could read the two of them like a book and they were both sweating quite a bit.

Next was Lily, also sweating, and she said something super quiet that Chloe pretended she didn't hear to play along with everyone else. _Nobody_ could hear Lily, even when they were right next to her, and she wasn't about to raise any suspicion towards her unnatural hearing abilities. As she moved on from Lily to Stacie and Cynthia-Rose she asked herself why it mattered so much if she found out whether or not it really was Beca who - for some reason - wasn't sweating, or what she would do if she was right. But there were no drastic complaints from anyone (though Fat Amy did confide in Chloe that she wished "dictator Aubrey" would take things down a notch), not even Beca.

"It's nice that you care about everyone so much to ask whether or not we're stressed," Beca said, smirking a bit. Despite not complaining she also didn't really _share_ anything, which led Chloe to realize that maybe she cared so much because she wanted to know more about Beca as a person. This was just her weird way of doing something about that. Chloe resolved to figure out a better way to get to know the new Bellas outside of rehearsal or alcohol.

She shrugged, taking in a subtle whiff of Beca's scent. The brunette smelled like she always smelled: like she spent all her time in the woods. It was beautiful, though, much like the sound of her voice. But still - no sweat. "It's something I wished _our_ captain did when we first joined. I know having time for classes and a cappella can be a bit stressful at first, but it isn't _too_ hard to find a good rhythm," she explained. "Let me know if you're having any troubles, though, okay? Our door is always open." It wasn't quite of her intention to say that, since she wasn't sure whether or not Aubrey would share the same sentiment, but it _did_ seem to get Beca to relax a little. Chloe smiled brightly in response.

"Thanks," the brunette said, tone dangerously close to a purr that sent chills up Chloe's spine. "I really am doing alright, but thanks."

Chloe nodded and quickly changed the topic of conversation. "You don't sweat."

"Pardon?" Beca laughed, sounding sort of taken aback.

"I said you don't _sweat_ ," Chloe repeated. "I really just now noticed it, but I think it's weird. Just how fit are you? Or is it like a medical thing?"

Beca laughed again. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said incredulously.

Narrowing her eyes, Chloe decided to leave it be. There honestly wasn't much reason for her to know something like this, and even _she_ knew that if she was too weird about something so small it was less likely Beca would feel comfortable sharing other things about herself. She apologized swiftly and bounced away, back to Aubrey's side. Glancing briefly over her shoulder she caught sight of Beca's bemused expression before the brunette turned her head downwards, shaking it as her shoulders quivered with further laughter. This time it looked like it was from true amusement as opposed to confusion.

"Are we all good?" Aubrey asked, snapping Chloe's attention back on her. She quirked an eyebrow up as if to repeat her question.

"Yup," Chloe chirped. "I told everyone our door is always open if they do have issues."

Aubrey rolled her eyes at that, and Chloe still grinned because the emotion swirling in amidst the pale green color was nothing but affection. "Break is over!" the blonde barked. "Let's go, three more laps around the auditorium! I want to see you pick up those knees!"

Chloe took off running, naturally falling into a pace that just barely got her heart rate up while not showcasing her unnatural speed. She thought, giggling silently, that if anyone could smell _her_ they wouldn't get a strong scent of sweat, either. Aubrey tried really hard to give the Bellas a routine that kept them fit and healthy (Chloe seriously doubted anyone took to her suggestion of taking up cardio outside of rehearsal, anyway) but it just wasn't enough for Chloe. She took the initiative to keep herself active, especially when she didn't get a chance to go out hunting, something that made her all the more high strung around the time of the full moon. Needless to say she required a lot of protein, and ample exercise to burn it off. The pre-rehearsal cardio they did hardly scratched the surface.

She focused on keeping her knees high to make Aubrey happy, and was startled when Beca suddenly dashed past her at the start of the second lap. "Wanna see me sweat, Chloe?" the brunette called over her shoulder.

"Hell yeah, Beca!" Chloe encouraged. She picked up her own pace and soon caught up with Beca in a few long strides, and they stayed beside each other. Looking over, she made eye-contact with the brunette. The cocky smirk she wore and the mischievous glint to her eyes seemed like a challenge to Chloe; she started running faster, forgetting that she needed to keep herself in check. Much to her surprise Beca was still able to keep up with her - it only prompted her to go faster, and faster, and yet every time she glanced over Beca was still right beside her, seeming just as confused that they were still matching paces.

" _Stop_!"

Hearing Aubrey's voice raised to a _shriek_ made Chloe's legs just about fail, and instead of skidding to a halt like Beca she tripped and slid forward a few feet on her stomach. Luckily they weren't on the stairs - falling on those at such a speed didn't sound appealing at _all_. She looked up, panting slightly, and saw that everyone else had leapt into the seats to avoid her and Beca. Aubrey was sprawled over two near the top; she disentangled herself with a grunt and swiftly scampered down the stairs, stopping in front of Chloe and Beca, her hands on her hips.

"What the aca- _hell_ , you two?" she huffed. Her chest heaved, catching Chloe's attention, and when she pulled her gaze away she saw that Beca was also staring. The brunette twitched a little and they made brief eye-contact again.

"Are y'all superheroes or some shit?" Cynthia-Rose grumbled.

They all heard a series of gruff noises, and a second later Amy emerged from one row. She looked disheveled and flushed. "You two almost ran me over!" she huffed. "I'm all for a little healthy competition," she continued, moving some hair out of her face now that she was standing upright, "but not at the expense of others! ...Usually."

"Is there something I should know about?" Aubrey snapped.

Chloe looked to her, gaze locking on pale green eyes. Actually, Aubrey didn't really look _mad_... just confused, and perhaps - was that excitement? Triumph? Chloe couldn't quite tell. She scrambled to her feet and chose to ignore the look in favor of focusing. "Sorry," she breathed, "I guess I just got a little carried away."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Beca nod. "Yeah, me too. Sorry."

"We're not just gonna gloss over this, though, are we?" Stacie cut in. "I mean, come on - I can't be the only one here who's never seen someone run that _fast_!"

Aubrey narrowed her eyes, gaze flicking back and forth between Chloe and Beca. She released a heavy sigh and dropped her arms down to her sides. "Everyone just... take a break. But you two need to come over here," she said, gesturing them over towards the whiteboard. Chloe hung her head and followed her. It wasn't often that she ever lost her control like that, or just lost herself in such a way to begin with - she blamed it on Beca. There had been a silent challenge in those steel blue eyes, and it spurred Chloe on. Then again (if she was being fair), it wasn't just because of Beca. Stubbornly she would say it _was_ , but the full moon was also fast approaching, and that certainly didn't help. Aubrey whirled on them once she reached the whiteboard, probably satisfied with the distance she'd put between them and the rest of the group. She eyed Chloe and Beca again before speaking. "I'm serious," she hissed. "Is there something going on between you two that I should know about? Perhaps some sort of rivalry?"

"No," Chloe said. "At least... I don't think so?"

Beca scrunched her nose up and shook her head. "Yeah, no. It was just... just a race."

"Okay, let's say it was," Aubrey scoffed. "Do either of you even _know_ how fast you were running? Stacie's right, I don't think anyone here has ever seen someone-"

"It's no big deal," Chloe interrupted. "Right?"

"Right," Beca agreed, this time with a nod. "We couldn't have been running _that_ fast. Calm down a bit, it's not like we hurt anyone."

"You very well could have!" Aubrey snapped out in a rush. Then, taking a deep breath, she appeared to center herself just enough to regain control. "I would very much like to talk about this another time, because it's _weird_ and I will not allow anyone here to put everyone else in danger. Chloe, I thought you knew better. I'm disappointed in you." Chloe flinched and averted her eyes to stare down at her feet instead, shame washing over her like a tidal wave. "And Beca, I was hoping we were getting somewhere in regards to your attitude. Perhaps I was wrong - I'm disappointed in you, too."

Beca's brows furrowed and her eyes started darting around so she was looking at anything else besides Aubrey.

"I'm sorry," Chloe repeated meekly.

"So am I," Beca tacked on, voice quiet. "Really, Aubrey, I'm sorry."

"Good. Now go apologize to the others as well. I don't want to spend any more rehearsal time on this." Aubrey nodded to where everyone was seated and ushered them away.

Unfortunately, and much to the blonde's annoyance, rehearsal didn't go so smoothly after that. Everyone remained distracted and brought up the earlier incident every time Aubrey paused, spiking her feelings of irritation through the roof. Chloe refused to answer and pointedly ignored any questions, and Beca just shrugged in response. Sometimes they would make eye-contact and Chloe would see her shame reflected back at her.

When rehearsal was over Chloe left Aubrey in the auditorium - the blonde said she needed some time alone and would see her at the dorm later - to catch up with Beca. "Hey!" she called, and the brunette stopped to turn, regarding her with a calm expression.

"Hey?" she said hesitantly.

"I just..." Chloe paused, really thinking about what she wanted to say. "There isn't anything going on between us, is there?" she asked eventually.

Beca frowned and crossed her arms. "I didn't think there was. Do you?"

"No. I have no clue why that happened."

"Neither do I." Now it was Beca's turn to pause; she glanced away, biting down on her lower lip, and when she met Chloe's gaze again she looked worried and a little awkward. But mostly worried. And kind of shy. "So... we cool?" she murmured.

Chloe laughed. "Yes, Beca. We're cool."

* * *

The _second_ she got back to the apartment she called her mama, struggling to take her shoes off with one hand and also keep her balance despite her bag weighing her down. It slipped down from her shoulder into the bend of her elbow and she stumbled. Growling lowly to herself, she nudged her shoes into the designated space (Aubrey abhorred shoes scattered about in the front hallway) and padded through the living room and hall that led to her room. By the time she reached it her mama picked up.

" _Hello_?"

"I got into this weird race or something with Beca during rehearsal," Chloe said in one breath, shutting her door with the weight of her body so she could just lean against it for a second. She was pretty tired all of a sudden and attributed it to the emotional roller coaster she'd been through in the span of a few hours.

Mrs. Beale snorted in laughter. " _Well, you certainly got straight to the point. What do you mean, 'a race or something'? Are you okay_?"

"I think I am," Chloe sighed. "At least physically... We were just doing cardio before rehearsal, and Beca somehow made it seem like a challenge that one of us finish before the other. The weird thing was that she kept pace with me no matter how fast I went. I even forgot where I was and went _too_ fast, mama."

" _Really? That isn't like you... even with the full moon approaching_."

"I know! I don't know what happened."

" _Did Beca say anything? Or did Aubrey, or anyone else for that matter_?" Her mama's tone was politely curious, but Chloe could still hear the minor warning.

They were _never_ supposed to reveal themselves. Not unless a ton of special exceptions were met, and in this case, none of them had even been touched upon. And although Chloe knew her mama would never be disappointed in her for such an honest mistake she also didn't feel like she could handle this scrutiny.

"Aubrey was really upset, because she thought we could have hurt someone. She was kinda right though - everyone practically leapt out of our path." Sighing, Chloe moved to flop down on her bed. "After rehearsal I talked to Beca, and she was just as confused as I was, but she seemed more worried about whether or not there actually _was_ , like, a rivalry between us. Aubrey thought something was going on and that was why we were... acting weird. I dunno, everything about it was just _weird_ , and I-"

" _Take a deep breath, sweetie_ ," Mrs. Beale interrupted gently, but sternly.

Chloe did as she was told. "I just don't understand it. If Beca was... like me, I would know it, wouldn't I? I mean, we _smell_. But she _doesn't_ \- she doesn't even sweat, mama. Like, at all."

" _Now, that is strange. I'm not sure it necessarily_ means _something, though_." Mrs. Beale took a short deep breath of her own. Over the line Chloe heard some shuffling and the distinct sound of her younger sister's voice, even if it was muffled. " _Hold on a second, your sister just got home_." Chloe waited, hearing them exchange a few words, something that had to do with what they were having for dinner. Mrs. Beale hummed a little and said, " _Alright, so you lost control a little bit. That doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Did anybody seem particularly upset about your display of speed? Towards either of you_?"

By asking that Chloe knew her mama mostly meant did _Aubrey_ seem upset, since she knew just how important the blonde was to her daughter, and wanted to be informed if any part of Chloe's situation (being a werewolf at a college for normal _humans_ ) affected their friendship. Or whatever their friendship could become, even if Chloe was super hesitant to so much as _think_ that could be a possibility. "I mean, everyone thought it was _weird_ ," she huffed, grabbing a pillow to hug it to her chest, feeling awash with overwhelming emotions. "I'm not exactly sure just _how_ fast we were going, but it was enough to freak them out. Aubrey sounded a little scared when she yelled at us to stop..." She trailed off, remembering the look in the blonde's eyes. "Actually... she didn't seem all that mad, mama. It was more like she was... excited, maybe. Without any context someone would probably think she just like won the lottery or something. I thought she would be _pissed_."

Mrs. Beale hummed again. " _Maybe you should talk to her about it, like you did with Beca? Although... in regards to Beca_ -" her tone suddenly shifted to make her sound a bit more business-like, almost like she was scolding her daughter "- _it might be wise to question her again, but this time subtly ask her if she's like you. Or, at the very least, make sure the two of you are_ really _on the same page, no matter if she's one of us_."

That phrasing - "one of us" - shot an unexpected crawling sensation of discomfort through Chloe, making her hair bristle. "Uh... yeah. I'll do that," she half-sighed.

" _Are you sure you're alright, sweetie_?" Mrs. Beale asked slowly.

Chloe nodded to herself. "Yeah, mama. I'm fine. I'll talk to you later."

There was a pause on the other end. " _Okay_ ," Mrs. Beale eventually conceded. " _Love you. Just_ talk _to them, Chlo. It'll work out just fine_."

"Yeah. Thanks. Love you too." She hung up and tossed her phone to the side, letting out an exaggerated huff. The idea of asking Beca if she was a _werewolf_ made her uncomfortable, which wasn't something she'd really felt before. It wouldn't be the first time she wanted to ask someone, either - they had a universal sort of code question and answer so everyone could be absolutely certain if they came across someone from another pack, though usually it worked out just fine being close enough to smell them. Now that Chloe thought about it that way, maybe that was why she was so drawn to trying to catch a whiff of Beca's sweat. Her overall scent was nothing like anyone else she'd ever met, werewolf _or_ human.

But where was her hesitation coming from? Asking Beca if she was like her, or making sure they really were "cool"? She _thought_ they were after their brief conversation.

Groaning loudly, she tossed the pillow away and rolled off her bed. She checked her calendar for the second or third time that day; full moon was basically _right_ after regional's. If she ended up doing something she couldn't control that in turn cost them a win or advancement to nationals, she would never forgive herself. Aubrey _needed_ to get to finals and redeem herself from last year.

And Chloe would be damned if she let anything get in the way.

* * *

 _A/N: Reviews are always welcome, y'all :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter. There are going to be plenty of weird interactions between Chloe and Beca, and poor Aubrey's gonna be stuck in the middle for most of them. Some of these instances may be a bit humorous while others will be more serious - tell me though if you thought this one was just weird._

 _I'm excited to continue! (And I hope you all are as well~)  
_


	5. Chapter V

**\+ V +**

"You aca-bitches ready?" Fat Amy called over her shoulder from the driver's seat, pulling the van out of the Barden parking lot. "We're going to _regional's_!"

Beca snorted in laughter while everyone else cheered; Amy was probably just happy that she got the solo Beca turned down. She sort of doubted the group as a whole was all that excited, but Amy's exuberance was contagious, much in the way Chloe's was. The redhead was going up and down the aisle to chat with everyone and Beca thought it was kind of funny that it didn't seem like she could keep her balance. Amy was actually a surprisingly decent driver, so it wasn't like there was much reason Chloe would be nearly falling and swaying with every step. Beca knew it wasn't because of the heels, either. Chloe was a natural walking in those things.

She reached Beca's seat and plunked down in the one next to her, leaning in close with a grin so bright it rivaled the goddamn sun. For a second Beca fancied the idea that her body suddenly tired from the exposure. "Soooo," Chloe drawled, "what's up, Becs?"

"Not much," Beca laughed.

"Are you excited for your first performance?"

"I mean, yeah." Beca shrugged and glanced out the window beside her. "I just hope things go okay so we can avoid Aubrey's wrath."

Chloe giggled. "It'll go great."

There was a pause wherein they both sort of stared at each other. The bright excitement in Chloe's eyes diminished unexpectedly to be replaced by something border-lining uncertain and uncomfortable. Beca arched an eyebrow in silent questioning.

"Do you have any plans this coming Monday?" Chloe asked, tone gentle, making it sound like she expected a specific answer.

"I've got, like, classes and rehearsal," Beca said, shrugging. "Other than that not really."

Chloe's expression became considerably more unreadable. "Not even anything for the evening?" she asked.

"Dude, it's a school night, and I can't believe I even used that as an excuse." Beca was pretty sure it was common for people to disregard the idea of having things to do the next day to get out of having a good time. She hoped Chloe went along with it but studied her eyes anyway, searching for any hint that the redhead was possibly catching on.

But she gave no hint of _anything_ , just leaned back and smiled a guarded smile wholly unlike her. "Yeah, you're right."

A sense of threat curled up in Beca's stomach. She hadn't answered correctly, she knew that much, and it also seemed like Chloe was either disappointed or really confused. Her smile smoothly morphed into something much more like her and Beca could once again read her expression easily. "Why do you wanna know?" she heard herself asking without meaning to.

"Oh," Chloe said, blinking. "Just... I don't know."

Beca didn't like the feeling of mistrust expanding inside her, and she tried to shake it off. How could there possibly be a reason for her to not trust _Chloe_? She put on a smirk and said, "If you want to hang out with me you could have just asked."

"You're pretty confident about that, aren't you?" Chloe countered, narrowing her eyes teasingly. She couldn't keep the act up for very long and grinned. "Sure, I'd love to hang out with you - and I'm sure Aubrey would too. We should totes get dinner or something together! Oh," she said again, seeming to come back to herself as she squirmed a little and the happy look slipped away once more, "but not Monday night, actually. I'm... busy."

"Okay," Beca chuckled, shrugging. "Sure. But are you sure Aubrey wants to hang out with me? I figured she wouldn't ever really want to see me outside of Bellas stuff." Admittedly, saying that out loud made her a little sad. If she could she would absolutely want to hang out with both of them... but she figured Aubrey did not share those feelings.

Chloe's lips quirked up into another grin, this one dangerously suggestive. She turned away from Beca and called out, "Hey, Bree!" The blonde was sitting near the front and glanced over her shoulder with a slightly perplexed look, frowning when Chloe gestured her to come join her and Beca. She did, albeit with obvious hesitance, and sat in the row in front of them. Beca let her eyes subtly roam; the outfit they all wore as a group was already stretching it, and the way both Chloe and Aubrey had their hair up wasn't helping Beca calm herself.

Seriously, it should be illegal for two people sharing the same space to be so beautiful.

"Beca thinks you don't want to hang out with her," Chloe said, an eyebrow twitching up. The way she gazed at Aubrey made the blonde flush - Beca wondered if it had anything to do with the redhead's eyes instead of the sly, fox-like grin she sported.

The blush increased in Aubrey's cheeks when she switched her attention to Beca. "I... I never said that," she huffed.

"Well I just sorta assumed," Beca admitted. "Since you don't like my attitude."

Aubrey frowned. "You and Chloe are the ones who seem to have a weird competition going on between you - I just don't like the way you question my authority as captain."

"We're not competing," Beca said at the same time Chloe did, and they exchanged a glance. Chloe blushed a little as well, and Beca noticed she looked a bit pale. They both turned back to Aubrey to see the blonde staring at them in a calculating manner. Beca shifted in discomfort; that was the kind of look she got when she slipped up and did something pretty vampire-esque. And when she inspected Chloe out of the corner of her eye she saw the redhead was having a similar reaction. She wondered why that was.

Sighing, Aubrey seemed to abandon whatever it was she was doing. Within a blink the look was gone and Beca forced herself to relax. Beside her she felt some of the tension leave Chloe's posture. "I would be up for... hanging out," Aubrey murmured. "What exactly did you have in mind? And when?"

"Apparently not Monday," Beca huffed, shooting Chloe a smirk. To her surprise Chloe just suddenly blanched, increasing the paleness to her skin.

"I didn't know you had something going on, Chlo," Aubrey said.

Chloe giggled, but it sounded nervous. "Yeah, uh... one of my older brothers is coming through town. We were gonna go get a bite to eat."

Beca got the distinct feeling that even if she wasn't explicitly lying, that wasn't the whole truth. She decided not to comment on it, though. "I'm free pretty much any time," she said, speaking to both of them. "Just let me know."

"Alright. Why don't-"

Suddenly Chloe stood and immediately swayed, effectively interrupting Aubrey. The redhead gripped the back of the seat in front of her to keep her balance and trained her intense gaze on the front of the bus. For a few moments she just stood there, then she lowered herself back into her seat. Beca noticed that her eyes were somehow the brightest she'd seen them so far. Both she and Aubrey gave her looks of confusion and she flushed with embarrassment.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I thought I... never mind."

Aubrey opened her mouth to say something, paused, then sighed and turned back to Beca with a look that changed from concern to confusion. Beca minutely shook her head in response - she didn't know what any of that had been about, either. "Why don't we just get together Tuesday?" she asked.

"Sure," Beca said, and Chloe mumbled her agreement.

Aubrey nodded sharply and returned to her seat. Seconds later Chloe moved to sit more in the back. Beca glanced between them both; even if there wasn't anything going on between herself and Chloe, she couldn't help thinking back to what Amy had said about Chloe and _Aubrey_. Was there anything going on between _them_? They were super close, but that was just how best friends were... at least, as far as Beca had observed. She knew that the reason she felt jealous was because if Chloe and Aubrey _were_ together in any way, Beca wanted to be a part of it. Unless it was some friends with benefits thing. Beca didn't like the sound of that, even if the idea of being _with_ both of them kind of frightened her for reasons she couldn't quite discern.

Heaving a sigh, she turned back to looking out the window, putting her headphones on to get lost in one of her mixes. The best part of the 21st century was probably the technology. She _loved_ devoting time to making mash-ups and just being able to listen to music on an easily portable device (she unfortunately remembered well the era of Walkmans, and even carrying boom boxes around on one's shoulder, because she'd _been there_ ). Now she just wished she could show some mixes to Aubrey - she had a good feeling Chloe would instantly be on board, but the blonde would need more convincing. Beca hoped to show their captain how cool their set could be if they didn't do the same "traditional" thing over and over. Maybe if they advanced tonight to nationals, although if they got somewhere with "The Sign", "Eternal Flame", and "Turn the Beat Around" she was pretty sure Aubrey would only see that as positive reinforcement. She glanced at the blonde. Yeah, she had some work cut out for her if she was going to convince Aubrey of pretty much anything.

* * *

Beca's relieved sigh turned into a small groan when she approached the exit to the police station and saw Jesse waiting outside. He turned upon hearing the doors open and shot her a goofy grin, removing his hands from his jacket pockets to wrap her up in a quick hug.

"Dude, I thought we agreed on not wasting your college fund money for bail?" she joked, nudging him in the side after pulling away.

"You and I both know you wouldn't have wanted to stay in there," Jesse huffed. "Come on, let's get outta here." They started walking towards his car in silence, and it wasn't until they got in and Beca was buckling up that he spoke again. "I'm sorry about what happened. It wasn't fair you got caught up in the middle of it. If anything, you should be the one bailing _me_ out."

She looked up from where her hands were placed on the seatbelt and met his eyes. There was some real guilt in there. "It's seriously fine, Jesse," she said.

He shrugged woefully and started the car.

They'd known each other since Jesse was in his junior year of high school. Beca remembered the day they met; his clothes had been stolen by his so-called friends during gym class. He was forced to walk home from school in his underwear - while it was _raining_ , no less - and Beca had just happened to cross his path.

He had made a ton of jokes and movie references to cover up how hurt he was by what happened (something he didn't fully explain to Beca until a few weeks later) and the fact that he was basically catching hypothermia. Beca had offered him her jacket, for starters, and said if he wanted she would help him prank his friends back. She was centuries old, so why not take time to help out a sixteen-year-old boy who had been so betrayed by people he thought cared about him? That was why Beca always felt fortunate to not have to go to high school. No matter _what_ era she was in it always seemed to suck for everyone involved.

In hindsight she hadn't exactly thought through anything when she met Jesse. He had just seemed _so_ nice, and she was _so_ lonely - what could go wrong? It turned out to be a whole number of things. She had been watching from afar while Jesse pulled off the prank, and things had turned ugly. Fistfight level ugly. And she may or may not have exposed herself for what she truly was a bit more than was necessary, and certainly scared the shit out of those high school boys. What had surprised her the most was that Jesse didn't run away or anything. He just got super excited and said he'd met the female version of Nosferatu or something. The whole series of events led to them being fast friends, which was all Beca really wanted. Just someone who accepted who she was. And Jesse was a _great_ friend - he was the one who convinced her to go to college with him, and even helped fake some documents (namely, a high school diploma) to get her enrolled in Barden with him. Now here they were.

"Earth to Beca? Hey, come on. Prison couldn't have changed you _that_ much, you were only in there for like an hour."

Beca sucked in an unnecessary breath through her nostrils in order to bring herself back to the present, smirking and swatting Jesse's arm. "It was more than an hour!" she argued. She then settled more into the seat, growling in minor frustration. "I swear, though, if I had really been able to go all out on those guys... Well, no, then I'd be in jail for attempted murder instead of just destruction of property."

"I'm still waiting on a thank you..." Beca hit him again and he just laughed. "But for real, Becs, there's no way you would've gone all out on those guys. They weren't even deserving of your awesome power. Still..." he glanced at her swiftly before turning his eyes back on the road, "why _did_ you get so riled up in the first place?"

Chewing on her lower lip, Beca reflected back on what had happened after regional's. The Bellas had been rewarded second place, which meant they would advance, and not so surprisingly the Treblemakers got first. On their way out Bumper and one or two of the other guys got in a fight with this random a cappella group of guys _way_ out of college who were singing in the lobby. Beca had only stepped in when Jesse and Fat Amy kind of got involved.

"Somebody's gotta protect you," she grumbled. "And it's kinda been awhile since I last... got out, you know?"

Jesse's brows furrowed. "It's just the two of us in the car, Becs. There's no reason for you to not say any words from the forbidden list."

"I thought we decided we'd stop calling it that."

" _You_ did."

Beca snorted, smirking lightly. "Okay, yeah, it's been awhile since my last hunt. I've kinda just been using up the blood bags I was storing up. Doing things outside of classes and Bellas stuff has been hard to balance."

"But you still gotta take care of yourself," Jesse said gently, but sternly. "What happens when you aren't getting enough blood again? Do you go kinda crazy?"

" _No_ ," Beca huffed. "I mean... if I wasn't getting any at _all_ then yeah, I would probably find it increasingly difficult to stay in control of myself. All I'm saying is that it's different when it's in a bag. The act of hunting is important to us, not just because we're getting food for ourselves or being out during nighttime."

Jesse nodded a few times. "Okay. So you just need to get out."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't know about tonight, though. Performing wore me out."

"Good job on second place, by the way."

She groaned lightly and shut her eyes, leaning her head back. "Come on, it's not that big of a deal. You guys got first, and that's awesome. We just get to stay in the game."

"Isn't that the point?" She cracked an eye open to look at him and he gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes, gesturing wildly with one hand. "Pretty much all you've been telling me about you and the Bellas is that Aubrey really wants to get to finals and redeem herself. I saw that puking video, by the way, and it was gross. Anyway - I know you're really starting to care about those girls, Becs. Even if you're trying to hide it away, I can always see it."

"And that's not creepy..."

"I mean it, Beca. And I can tell you care especially for Aubrey and Chloe. It's all in the way you talk about them. That, and when you know how to read your eyes like I do, you're basically an open book, Lady Nosferatu."

Laughing despite herself, Beca scoffed, "I don't know why you keep calling me that!"

"Oh, you totally do." The car came to a stop and Beca opened both of her eyes to see they were already back at Barden, parked close to her dorm. Jesse turned to her with a serious look devoid of his typical goofiness. "Listen, Beca. You gotta take care of yourself while _also_ caring about Aubrey and Chloe and the Bellas. We've been pretty lucky with keeping you from getting too hungry, so we should keep that streak going. 'Cause it'll be bad if any of the Bellas see you when you get a little crazy. Riiiiight?"

"Right," Beca huffed.

Jesse nodded. "Right. So promise me that in the next few days you're going to go hunting and get yourself some fresh blood."

"That isn't another movie reference, is it?"

Chuckling, Jesse leaned across her lap to open the door for her, grinning. "Get outta here and go to bed. You look dead tired."

"Oh my god, shut up!" Beca laughed. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, offering him a wave and a smirk in form of goodbye. He drove off after she shut the door; she turned towards the building with a light huff. Above her she noticed the moon was high up in the sky, bright in a way that reminded her of Chloe's eyes. It seemed almost full. She shrugged to herself, humming, and walked inside.

Sometimes she wasn't sure how she had managed to get into the dorm in the first place. It was an owned space, which meant she needed permission to enter. And yet, when she arrived on campus she realized she didn't have to worry so much. She still wasn't sure about the technicalities of it, but she'd take it. Meant less trouble for her anyway.

She sang along lightly to the song currently in her head (one from their set, unfortunately - she was a bit sick of those) and unlocked the door to her dorm, not looking up until she stepped past the threshold. She stiffened in surprise at seeing all the Bellas waiting for her on her bed, Aubrey sitting on the chair in front of her desk. They all cheered boisterously upon her entering; she laughed and did a little bow, thinking it was especially funny that they seemed so enthusiastic about what she did despite it getting her landed in jail. She shut the door behind her and noticed her roommate Kimmy-Jin was glaring at her.

"They won't leave," she said simply, obviously irritated.

Beca could only shrug in apology. Besides, anything she said would have just been drowned out by Amy's booming voice.

"There she is!" the Australian girl practically shouted. "Short stack really took one for the team tonight," she added, pointing at Beca and nodding in appreciation.

"We're not happy that you got thrown in jail, Beca," Aubrey snapped, waving her hands, something like genuine concern seeping into her voice. "I would have much rather nobody was incarcerated for any amount of time, but - regardless," she huffed, lowering her gaze, "tonight went really well. Aside from that, I mean."

Chloe giggled. She was hugging Beca's pillow to her chest. "Beca can take care of herself, Bree," she said softly.

"I'm not saying she can't, I'm saying I'd like to avoid situations like that in the future," Aubrey half-sighed, shooting Amy a glare. Amy shrunk back from the full force of it and turned back to Beca with a sheepishly frightened expression. Beca just laughed in response, shuffling closer, though she was a bit unsure what she was supposed to do. Fortunately Aubrey took the reins again; she got to her feet quickly and clapped her hands. "Like I said, tonight went well, but we need to keep it together if we want to keep advancing to the finals. At the same time, I know we're all tired from all the rehearsals and we all deserve a bit of a break. That doesn't mean no rehearsal at all-" she narrowed her eyes at the group in response to their incredulous gasps "-but we will be cutting back a little next week. Everyone focus on studies and taking care of yourselves in the meantime. The week after next rehearsal schedule will be back to normal, because we need to be ready for nationals."

"Maybe we could do something a little different for nationals?" Beca suggested timidly. She gestured to her computer. "I've been working on some pretty cool stuff, if you wanna just take a look at it and-"

"We're not breaking tradition," Aubrey interrupted.

Beca held up her hands as if to tell the blonde to calm down; she recognized that tone, and it usually meant Aubrey was seconds away from yelling if the matter was pressed. Of course, Beca didn't _want_ her to blow up at any of them (especially since Kimmy-Jin was staring daggers at her still and would most definitely not appreciate much more noise), but she _did_ want to get her point across. "I know that those songs are what the Bellas always used to do - and I'm still honestly curious to know _how_ you could get through every competition with _just_ those three songs - but maybe it's time for a little change? You know, like... reinvent our sound? Really _listen_ to each other?" she suggested carefully.

Aubrey's eyes flashed with a warning and her nostrils flared. She opened her mouth, and Beca prepared herself for the verbal barbed wire about to be sent her way, but Chloe's voice interrupted the blonde. "Maybe Beca's right, Aubrey," the redhead murmured. "We _have_ done those songs a lot..."

"I'm not going to debate this right now," Aubrey said. "With either of you. We should all get some rest - today's been a long day." Without another word she stalked out of the dorm, shutting the door behind herself with a snap.

The rest of the Bellas grumbled a little and got off of Beca's bed, giving her pats on the shoulder or looks that seemed to say "it was worth a shot" as they passed her on the way out. Chloe was the last to get up; she moved slowly, kind of like she was sore. Beca arched an eyebrow and was about to ask if she was alright, but closed her mouth and said nothing instead. There was something unnaturally tense about Chloe's posture that reminded Beca of the bus ride to the place for regional's - it bugged her that she couldn't begin to guess why the redhead seemed to be in such bad shape, and so suddenly, too. Usually she bounced around like there was helium in her bones.

"Sorry about Aubrey," she sighed, standing in front of Beca. "She's really set in her ways... but maybe you can change that!" She smiled widely and reached up to squeeze the brunette's upper arm, brushed past her, and left the dorm. Beca was left with the lingering scents of all the Bellas on her bed and a roommate who just _would not_ stop glaring at her.

* * *

 _A/N: I thought the idea of Chloe not being able to stand up in cars was funny, since most dogs have trouble with that (idk, blame Family Guy for kinda giving me the idea). Also, there will be a bit more of Jesse coming up. I like his character and I like his and Beca's friendship, so I'd like to include it here.  
_

 _I got a guest review and the person said they hope this will be different from the movies, and I get what you mean - I'm using the timeline of the first movie as a basis for things, mostly because that's how I started it, but I'm definitely gonna deviate from it. I'm kinda waiting to get to spring break first, but there will also be things in between, and then after finals there's gonna be more that isn't related to the movie directly. I hope that makes sense. This is just my way of organizing things since I don't plot stories out before I start them, I just go for it. With that being said, tell me what you guys think about that! Do you want me to like totally ignore the timeline of the movie more than I have been, or is this fine?_

 _I also got one in regards to the previous chapter and how neither Chloe nor her mother have any clue what Beca is if she isn't a werewolf, and trust me, ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED. I know it's weird but I'm getting there, just stick with me!_


	6. Chapter VI

**\+ VI +**

Aubrey walked down the hall, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and entered the kitchen. The remnants of a dream was playing out behind her closed eyes, just out of reach of full comprehension. She got the feeling it was about someone she knew... maybe more than one person she knew, even. There was a tightening in her chest that abruptly dissipated as she yawned and shuffled past the threshold.

At first she didn't notice Chloe sitting at the table, but when she did she let out a short yelp of surprise. Not because she was startled to see the redhead sitting there - no, Chloe just looked _super_ sickly, and her eyes kept going in and out of focus. She glanced up from her phone (Aubrey noticed the screen was black) and frowned at Aubrey in confusion.

"Are you feeling alright, Chlo?" Aubrey said, stepping closer. She raised a hand to feel Chloe's forehead and jumped a little when the redhead flinched back.

"I'm fine," Chloe huffed - it sounded more like a growl, and it was a heavy one at that, making Aubrey's hair stand on end. She'd heard Chloe sound like this before. It was another thing that was so weird about every month, when the redhead suddenly became so unlike her energetic self. "I just... really didn't sleep well last night. It's no biggie," Chloe added flippantly.

Aubrey scowled in concern. "But you said you were going out tonight. You can't do that if you're _this_ tired - it hardly even looks like you'll be able to make it through your classes."

Chloe's eyes flicked back on her from where they'd settled on the tabletop, sparking with something dangerous that _also_ wasn't completely foreign to Aubrey; she subtly shifted backwards, feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

"I'm only saying you should take care of yourself, Chloe," she practically whispered.

"What makes you think I'm not?" Chloe sucked in a deep breath through her teeth, the glint to her eyes transforming into one of slight shame instead of what Aubrey could only really describe as hostility. "I'm sorry, Bree," she sighed. "I'm not feeling much like myself. I won't ask you to understand, since I'm being kinda mean, but-"

Shaking her head, Aubrey interrupted gently, "No, it's okay. I know how much you need your sleep, and when you don't get it you become cross."

Every month Chloe used the "didn't get much sleep" excuse when she appeared particularly sickly in the morning; it would go away throughout the day, but her irritability just increased. Aubrey worried for anyone who crossed Chloe's path around this time, because even if she never made it seem like she would hurt _Aubrey_ \- and Aubrey knew she never would - that didn't mean everyone else was safe. Chloe would probably bite anyone's head off if they irked her in just the right way.

"So your brother's passing through today, right?" Aubrey said to change the subject, partially ignoring Chloe's grateful smile and moving over to the coffee maker.

"Oh - actually, he, uh, he had to take a detour."

Aubrey quirked an eyebrow and glanced back over her shoulder. "Really? But _both_ of your brothers always make time to see you whenever they can," she said - unlike her own, who got much too excitable about traveling for work and didn't make time for basically anything else. She tried not to hold it against him.

"Something came up," Chloe muttered unconvincingly under her breath. Once again she was staring down at the table. "It's okay, though."

"Well then... maybe we can hang out with Beca tonight?" Aubrey suggested.

Chloe's head snapped up, and Aubrey wasn't prepared to see the sheer amount of fear in her bright blue eyes - she had only expected there to be frustration or something along those lines. Clearing her throat, Chloe squirmed in her chair. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Bree. I really don't feel good, and I wouldn't want to ruin the fun." She paused, biting her lip to tone down a large smile. "That doesn't mean you can't hang out with her on your own tonight."

The idea kind of frightened Aubrey; she couldn't quite imagine being around Beca without Chloe there to act as a sort of barrier between them, something familiar she could fall back on when Beca's strangeness got to her too much. At the same time, _Chloe's_ strangeness was starting to get to Aubrey even more than it usually did. When she thought of it that way she almost wasn't sure if she wanted to hang out with _both_ of them after all, but she shook it off quickly. There honestly wasn't any reason for her to feel that way.

"I'm not sure if it would go very well," Aubrey admitted with a soft sigh, returning her attention to the coffee maker at the sound of it finishing. "I think Beca and I might need you as a... a buffer. Our bickering gets out of hand most of the time, but you're somehow always able to pull us back in."

"You two aren't going to get anywhere with each other if you don't figure out how to do that for yourself," Chloe growled, any hints of a smile slipping away. To Aubrey it sounded more like... jealousy? She _really_ didn't look very happy about her own idea.

"Do you not want us to hang out on our own?" Aubrey asked without really meaning to.

Chloe jerked back a little in her seat. "What? Why would you even say that?" she snapped, laughing disbelievingly. "Do you think I'm jealous or something?" The second the words came out of her mouth her expression changed back to one of horror and she stood up abruptly. "I'll be in my room," she growled lowly.

Scowling, Aubrey sipped at her coffee, choking a little at the extremely bitter taste. She had neglected to put any creamer in yet. She sighed and went to the fridge to get the creamer out, perhaps even pouring in too much in her distraction. _Was_ Chloe jealous, though? Aubrey couldn't figure out why she would be - besides, what was she jealous of? Aubrey? Beca? Something or someone else entirely? Aubrey shook her head and exited the kitchen to retreat to her room as well. She had a relatively early class to get to in the next few hours, but she was worried about leaving Chloe alone. This time, out of all the other times every month, it seemed like Chloe was really having difficulties.

She picked her phone up from its spot charging on her nightstand and unlocked it. She didn't even really realize what she was doing until she saw that she had opened up her messages and was staring at the blank one under Beca's name. Biting her lip she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Was she really going to do this? Would Beca even _want_ to hang out with her without Chloe also there?

Well, there was really only one way to find out.

She sent Beca a quick text asking if she wanted to do something after rehearsal.

The anxiety shooting through her nerves was unexpected; she shook herself some to refocus, placing her coffee on her desk. There were some notes she felt she should go over, but her phone chiming ripped the entirety of her attention away from anything school related. She practically lunged for her phone and unlocked it again, not letting herself look at the text until she returned to the messaging page.

Beca's response was very simple: _**Sure :)**_

Aubrey felt her heart judder in her chest, and for a second she had to remind herself to breathe a little. Alongside it was the feeling of disappointment - Chloe wouldn't be there, and Aubrey honestly wanted to hang out with both of them at the same time, regardless of her concern about whether or not she and Beca were compatible on their own. It just seemed more... _right_ for all of them to be together. She brushed the feeling off a little, because it felt inappropriate, almost.

She texted Beca back, saying: _**Okay. I'll see you then**_.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by, and before Aubrey knew it she was at rehearsal. It was a calmer day for the Bellas so soon after regional's - she skipped cardio in favor of doing some more team building exercises in harmonizing - and she wasn't all that surprised when Chloe came in late, near the end. She didn't look as sickly as she did in the morning, but she was scowling in anger and moved in jerking movements, like she was sore. Aubrey frowned in concern but otherwise didn't shift any attention to her, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it in this mood. Unfortunately, nothing stopped Fat Amy from saying anything.

"What's goin' on, Red?" she asked, nudging Chloe a few times with her elbow. Chloe stood stock still, her eyes drifting over to glare at the Australian girl without moving her head. "You're not looking too good there," Amy continued slowly.

"Yeah, it looks like you had a rough night," Stacie purred, winking suggestively.

Even from where she stood a few feet away Aubrey could hear Chloe _growling_ \- a literal growl, something animal-like and coming directly from her chest - and it was obvious everyone else could as well. Amy shuffled away, widening her eyes and glancing around at the others. Nobody did anything and eventually the sound stopped; Chloe rolled her eyes and spun on her heel to go over to her bag, pulling out a water bottle.

Acting sort of on autopilot Aubrey snapped her attention onto Beca. The brunette was watching Chloe curiously, head tilted slightly to the side. She turned swiftly to look at Aubrey, as if she had felt the blonde's eyes on her, and offered a small, uneven shrug. Aubrey found herself wishing she would just say something.

Instead it seemed like _she_ was going to have to, so she took a silent deep breath. "I think we can stop rehearsal here today, girls. Tomorrow we'll go just a bit later to make up for time, but..." she trailed off and gestured vaguely.

The others seemed to understand, though, sort of glancing at Chloe again as they dispersed even though the redhead was glaring fiercely at everyone in response.

"So-"

Aubrey jumped, not having heard Beca move towards her and startled to see her standing right next to her. She cleared her throat, blushing, and nodded to signal for her to continue. Beca just looked amused, with a tiny, smug smirk plastered on her face.

"What do you want to do?" Beca chuckled.

"Anything, I suppose," Aubrey replied, shooting Chloe a glance. The redhead was already hastily leaving the auditorium.

"You're worried about her."

She turned her attention back solely on Beca, frowning slightly in confusion. "Pardon?"

Beca gestured after Chloe. "You're worried about her. I mean, she does seem pretty off. I'd be worried about her, too." The tone of her voice said she actually _was_ worried herself.

"This happens every month," Aubrey admitted, sighing. "In the morning she'll look like she's got the plague, and she's always very cross with anyone who talks to her - even me. Then she'll go out all night." She huffed and shook her head in disapproval. Chloe was long gone now and Aubrey sincerely felt like she needed to lean on Beca for reassurance - the brunette seemed like the only person who would really understand. "I just don't _get_ it. She isn't acting like herself, but it isn't like any of this is necessarily _new_."

"It's not just like... like it's different than the, eh, usual time of the month, I guess?" Beca asked awkwardly, tilting her head to the side again.

Aubrey felt herself start to pout and told herself to stop. She wouldn't waste time with sulking, or anything of the sort. "No, it isn't. But... I don't think there's anything we can do about it." She smiled down at the slightly shorter girl beside her, hoping she didn't come across as nervous as she suddenly felt. For a second she thought she saw Beca's eyes darken, but she ignored it. "We could just go get coffee?" she suggested.

Beca shrugged. "Sure."

They exited the auditorium together; Aubrey swallowed repeatedly, thinking she might be standing too close to Beca and was making her uncomfortable, but also worrying that if she moved away a smidgeon Beca would think she didn't want to be close to her at all. She stewed in her own conundrum before mentally shaking herself out of it. Seriously, she got over all these nerves with Chloe quickly enough (and by quickly, she meant it took half a year), so how could Beca be all that different? The two of them _did_ share a lot of quirks, almost. Aubrey didn't really know what to call it. Either way, it was something familiar.

"So..." Beca drawled as they walked, slipping her hands into her back pockets. "I don't know a lot about you," she began slowly, clearing her throat. "Actually, I don't know a lot about _any_ of you guys - nothing like, personal, anyway."

Aubrey smiled, resisting the urge to cover it with her mouth or quell it entirely. "Would you _like_ to know more about us, Beca?"

"I want to know more about you, yeah," Beca breathed. "And Chloe."

Her sudden change in tone made Aubrey feel like she was melting, and the too-hot sensation in her skin was back full-force. She hadn't even noticed it was gone. "That's good, because I want to know more about you," she said before her mind could totally catch up. It sounded sort of stupid to say, but there was no taking it back. Biting down on her lower lip she glanced at Beca sideways from the corner of her eye.

The smile she got in return was unexpectedly shy and vulnerable, throwing her off guard for a second. "I'm glad to hear that, Aubrey," Beca murmured.

They talked about school schedules and classes on their way to the coffee shop, Beca confiding in Aubrey that sometimes she wasn't sure why she was at Barden in the first place. Aubrey asked her about plans she had for after graduation and that was when Beca seemed to become a little uncomfortable. She steered the conversation away from the future as fast as she could. Aubrey didn't really mind, although she still _would_ like to know what Beca planned to do with her life. She told the brunette about her plans to become a lawyer, accidentally letting slip that that was also something her father wanted for her.

"So do you actually wanna be a lawyer, or are you just making your dad happy?" Beca asked curiously as they grabbed their drinks from the counter.

Aubrey shrugged a little, leading the way over to a free table. She waited to speak until they were sitting down. "At first I was bitter about it, but the more I study the law, the more I like it. It's a vastly interesting subject, and I feel like I'll be able to change lives if I work hard enough - and yes, I'd also like to make my father happy."

Beca nodded, a hint of confusion dancing about in her steel blue eyes, though it wasn't showing in her face. "Are you an only child?" she murmured around the straw in her mouth. Aubrey thought it was cute that she ordered an iced chai tea.

"No," Aubrey said, shaking her head. "I have an older brother. He's an investigative journalist, something our father... isn't too happy about. I'm not sure why."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty cool," Beca huffed. She paused, scowling. "No offense, but your dad sounds like a real hard-ass," she added after a few moments, and once more Aubrey thought she saw her eyes darken. At the same time it seemed like an entirely different color - silver, maybe, or just gray - flashed through them.

Aubrey chuckled ruefully. "He kind of is. What is your dad like?"

She watched the way Beca stiffened over the rim of her cup, stopping herself from furrowing her brows in contemplation. Beca squirmed in her seat and lowered her gaze. "I, uh... I haven't really talked to my parents in, like, a _long_ time," she said.

"Did you have a falling out with them?"

Shaking her head, Beca leaned back in her seat, absentmindedly tapping her fingers on the tabletop. Aubrey took note of how finely manicured they were while not being anywhere near extravagant. "I guess," she replied after a few moments more of avoiding Aubrey's gaze. "We mostly just grew apart. I moved away and they didn't keep in touch, is all."

Aubrey hummed in sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be," Beca rushed, waving her free hand. "I mean, I'm not hung up on it." Her eyes drooped to the side and she pursed her lips. Aubrey waited, taking the look to mean that she was thinking over something. "There was someone who took care of me for awhile," she continued softly. "Kind of like... well not a _nanny_ , but she also wasn't... related to me." She paused to let out an irritated huff, eyes sparking with an indiscernible emotion as they settled back on Aubrey's pale green, her lips curling up into another one of her smirks. "I don't know how to explain it, but she was _like_ my parent, in a way."

"Do you still talk to her?" Aubrey asked.

"Sparingly," Beca admitted with a heavy sigh. "She's often pretty busy, but she always makes time to see me when she can. It's almost... necessary that we see each other every once in awhile, like every other week."

Aubrey frowned, but underneath the innocent intrigue she felt was something else, something a lot more cautious. There was a _reason_ why what Beca was saying made her feel this way, and why she just _couldn't_ understand. She just didn't know what that was, couldn't even begin to grasp it.

"Enough about parents, though," Beca chuckled before Aubrey got the chance to say anything else. "I thought we were trying to learn more about _each other_."

"Alright," Aubrey said, easily flashing her a quick smile. "Well, I don't know. What kind of things are you into? Your music, right?"

Beca's eyes lit up in excitement. "Yeah - yeah, I love music. Being a Bella is... sorta weird, but I get it. I like the feeling of _creating_ music, in any way possible, be that just what we're doing or like composing something-"

"Or whatever it is you do that you really want me to listen to?" Aubrey interjected smoothly, grinning, then hiding it behind her cup as she took a drink.

"Yes!" Beca practically gasped. "Yeah, and I think you would really like it if you listened to it. Even..." she sighed and rolled her eyes, "even if you don't want to incorporate it in the Bellas' set. And speaking of, _please_ explain to me how you've gotten so far before with just those songs, and _why_ is it tradition?"

Aubrey opened her mouth to respond, but was suddenly overcome with uncertainty. "I - it was just what we _did_ ," she murmured. "I don't know how to explain it, except to say that you _saw_ the handout I gave you all that listed all the songs we do."

"Right," Beca conceded. "But there are more songs on that list than the three we do." She paused, searching Aubrey's eyes imploringly. "I get that you want to redeem yourself after last year, Aubrey. I get that that must have been _horrendously_ embarrassing for you, and everyone involved, too. And I get why you believe using those three songs over and over are going to get you where you want to be, because they somehow worked last year, and a big motivating factor in your redemption goes towards the Bellas in the group who graduated."

"What's your point, Beca?" Aubrey accidentally whispered; she meant for it to come out more harshly, then didn't seem to be able to bring herself to do so. Because if she thought about it - and she really kind of _did not_ want to - Beca was right.

The brunette gestured minutely, picking up her drink. "My point is that maybe it wouldn't hurt to do something _new_ , to win finals with something that _you_ were a part of creating, that _you_ helped make original. You can start, like, a _legacy_ , dude. I mean, how cool would it be to revolutionize a cappella?"

Aubrey laughed lightly. "Revolutionize?" she echoed. "I don't know about _that_."

"Okay, but it'd still be really cool. All I'm asking is for you to _think_ about it, because..." Beca paused to take a deep breath, like she was preparing herself. "If I'm being totally honest, I don't really have high hopes for us getting past nationals if we don't change something." Again she searched Aubrey's eyes, her own charged with a bit of a challenge although Aubrey could definitely see that she was worried about her response. It reduced some of the sting of her words, and Aubrey thought it was sweet that the brunette actually seemed to care about what she thought. In fact, Beca looked a little _scared_.

"I'll think about it, Beca," Aubrey sighed. She still really didn't want to, and she was still convinced that she knew what she was doing, but the look on Beca's face when she spoke was worth it. Those steel blue eyes lit up in relief and gratitude and the corners of Beca's lips curled up into a wide grin. It wasn't anything to rival Chloe's, but it was certainly something Aubrey didn't think she'd seen before.

"Thanks," Beca murmured, practically purring, even.

A pleasant chill curled up Aubrey's spine and seemed to trickle into her bloodstream, making her suddenly feel a little cold. The feeling remained as they continued to talk about things that came into their heads - Beca went on a decently long rant about the point of movies, and how, while some _are_ pretty good, they don't seem to actually hold that much importance. She didn't see how anyone could pay attention for something that took so long. She even alluded to someone she knew outside of the Bellas and her family, but she swept on to ask Aubrey about how she and Chloe met before the blonde got the chance to ask more.

"I mean, just 'cause the first time I met her was in the shower," Beca chuckled, stirring the leftover ice in her cup with her straw. "I hope that isn't a habit of hers?"

Aubrey laughed as well, leaning back in her chair and taking a very brief moment to look around the small cafe. Most of the patrons were starting to leave - she hadn't noticed that the sun was already halfway through setting. "No, we met when we both got admitted to the Bellas. But she was still just as intimate, I bet, as she was with you. Chloe really has no idea about personal space boundaries. You get used to it, though."

Shaking her head, Beca hummed lightly. She didn't really respond; her gaze traveled up and past Aubrey to look out the windows at the front of the cafe. "Oh, shit," she said, lips quirking up into a smirk. "I didn't realize it was getting so dark."

"Would you like to leave?" Aubrey asked and glanced over her shoulder to look as well. "I've only had safe experiences walking around the campus at night, but it is a little disconcerting. They don't give you rape whistles when you arrive for nothing." She tried smiling around her words, even if she was completely serious. Based on the way Beca's eyes flashed she figured the brunette got her meaning anyway.

Beca nodded and moved to stand, grabbing Aubrey's empty cup to throw it and her own in a nearby trashcan. "I'll walk you back to your dorm, then," she said. Aubrey stood and followed her out of the cafe, smiling more genuinely to herself. The sun had set completely.

As they walked the moon rose; Aubrey looked up at it, surprised to see it glowing so brightly, but then she realized it was full. "Look at that," she said softly, pointing up at the sky. Beca followed the point of her finger and suddenly stopped - Aubrey didn't notice right away and when she turned back she saw that Beca's eyes were narrowed up at the moon, her fingers twitching at her sides. Her expression was contemplative. As Aubrey watched she saw dawning realization bloom across her features as her eyes widened. She still didn't move so Aubrey barked, meaner than she intended, "What's wrong?"

Beca started slightly and whirled around. Aubrey nearly flinched at the fierce glimmer to her eyes, which definitely looked more silver than blue. But then the brunette blinked and they were back to normal - something that really seemed to happen often. "Sorry," she said, sounding like she was trying to laugh it off. "I was just thinking about something, but it's no big deal." The smile she put in place then was guarded, and when she moved to rejoin Aubrey at her side and start walking again, her movements were stiff. Not like how Chloe's had been earlier when she seemed so sore - more like she was prepared for an attack. Aubrey didn't like that thought and she scowled, wrapping her arms around herself.

Was she safe with Beca?

The question was suddenly punctuated by a howling sound that seemed to come from somewhere on campus. Both of them halted simultaneously and waited for it to diminish. Beca turned to her sharply, that look back to her eyes. This time Aubrey was absolutely _certain_ there was silver swirling in amidst the blue.

"Are there _wolves_ here at Barden?" she asked harshly, voice weirdly deep.

Another chill ricocheted around Aubrey's body, but this one didn't feel so pleasant. Her heart was beginning to pound more rapidly in her chest. "I'm not sure, but this does happen every month. Most people just think it's some frat boys making fun of it being the full moon, so they pretend to be werewolves." She scoffed and started walking once more. "I can't stand frats, honestly. They're like the Treblemakers, but _worse_."

"You - seriously?" Beca snapped behind her, and she felt slim fingers slip around her wrist and yank her to a halt. But Beca didn't stop there - she yanked her all the way forward so that she was bending over just slightly to adjust to the brunette's height, and their noses were mere millimeters apart. Beca didn't say anything else, though. Just stared.

The feelings erupting in fast succession within Aubrey made her a bit short of breath, not a good mix with the pounding of her heart. On the one hand she was incredibly flustered to be this close to Beca's _face_ , and strangely honored to be able to look into her eyes like this. On the other she felt legitimately terrified - of what, she had no idea. Was she scared of _Beca_? Was she scared of what Beca was _saying_? Was she scared of the howling sound she'd heard so many times before, since she first arrived at Barden, and that happened every full moon, even if she'd never been scared of it _before_?

"Aubrey, maybe you should stay in my dorm tonight," Beca whispered, breaking the silence so effectively Aubrey instinctively recoiled.

"Aca-scuse me?" she huffed - her defensiveness coming from her surprise - and yanked her wrist out of Beca's grip. At least, she tried to. The brunette was deceptively strong. She felt her cheeks heat up a little but barreled past it, because she wasn't sure how she felt about Beca's offer. "I - _why_? I'll be perfectly safe in my own dorm-"

"No, I really think you should come with me," Beca interrupted in that deep voice, mixing in a bit of a growl that gave Aubrey goosebumps. "Come on."

She didn't wait for any arguments and dragged Aubrey along in a slightly different direction, completely ignoring the shrill protests the blonde made. Aubrey quickly realized it was no use - Beca was just _too strong_ somehow, and it was ridiculous - so she resigned to following the brunette to her dorm instead. As they walked they heard a few more howls; they seemed to be distancing themselves from it, or it was moving farther away from _them_.

Aubrey wouldn't necessarily _admit_ that she was scared - and probably not ever to Beca - but that didn't mean she didn't feel it. Fear was encroaching closer and closer into every square inch of her _skin_ , and she wasn't even sure where it really came from. She didn't say anything as she trailed after Beca, finding solace in the brunette's presence. Although it freaked Aubrey out _more_ that she still seemed ready to fend off attackers, it was also sort of comforting - she truly believed Beca would help protect her if need be. Which wasn't to say Aubrey couldn't take care of herself. Still, the sentiment was appreciated.

They reached Beca's dorm, and Aubrey felt her heart rate kick up in speed again as they approached the doorway. She swallowed nervously, watching Beca unlock the door. The first thing Aubrey noticed was the brunette's roommate sitting at her own desk, a lamp illuminating her work. Aubrey didn't know her name, and didn't think she and Beca were all that close - her only form of greeting was turning in her chair to see them walk in - but she still flushed. What did this _look_ like? Probably... not exactly the best.

"Just take my bed," Beca said, gesturing to it vaguely with one hand and running the other through her hair. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"That isn't fair," Aubrey snapped.

Beca glanced at her over her shoulder, standing by her own desk, and smirked. It wasn't like her usual smirk - it was more dangerous. "What?" she chuckled.

"I..." Aubrey trailed off and fidgeted with her hands. "I don't want to take your bed from you, Beca. I can sleep on the floor."

"You're my guest," Beca huffed, scowling. "No arguments, Aubrey - I won't listen to them. I know it isn't really all that late but if you want you can go ahead and go to bed. Or..." She turned again, having been doing something on her computer, and the open-mouthed smirk she wore now put Aubrey more at ease. "Do you want to listen to some of my mixes? Come on, this is the perfect opportunity!"

Aubrey got the feeling the "no arguments" statement applied to this as well. She nodded and approached, flicking her gaze over to Beca's roommate's back.

Beca looked to her suddenly, halfway through pulling up whatever she wanted. "You can sit down, you know," she chuckled. Aubrey just smiled and slid into the office chair, accepting the headphones Beca then handed her. She was about to put them on when Beca's hands once again gripping her wrists stopped her - and those eyes were really just too much at this point. "Your heart is beating awfully fast," Beca murmured.

Aubrey hadn't realized until that moment how white Beca's teeth were.

"Are you okay? You seem really nervous. Do want, like, some water or something?"

There was a ringing in Aubrey's ears now.

"Aubrey?"

Beca's voice fell in muffled with the ringing and she swallowed.

"Okay, I think... maybe you should just go to bed? 'Cause you're freaking me out a little, honestly, and I don't know what else to do. Can you respond in any way? ...Nod if you'd like to just go to bed, Aubrey."

She managed a stiff nod.

"Okay," Beca repeated. "Let's go, then." She pulled gently to urge Aubrey onto her feet, leading her to the bed and disengaging her grip to move back the covers. Aubrey struggled out of her shoes for a second before getting underneath them. Beca even tucked her in, murmuring something else she couldn't quite hear.

Aubrey laid there, staring up at the ceiling and aware of Beca's presence a mere foot or two away. She could _feel_ those eyes on her. The ringing persisted until the panic finally just dragged her into the grips of sleep, one last howl permeating the air as she was taken into a state of calm. In sleep she could forget that sound and Beca's eyes.

* * *

 _A/N: Another longer chapter for Aubrey 'cause there was a point I needed to get to, and things I needed her and Beca to say. Reviews are always welcome, y'all!_


	7. Chapter VII

**\+ VII +**

Chloe woke up the following morning somewhere in the small stretch of woods on the Barden campus, completely naked and with a terrible headache.

"Shit," she muttered to herself, shakily moving onto her hands and knees. Her body was _exhausted_ and obviously not really ready to get somewhere more comfortable so she fell back onto her belly with an irritated huff.

Of course, she didn't really remember anything from the night before - nothing concrete, anyway. All she _could_ recall was the smell of the trees around her and the cold night air moving through her fur as she ran - she always liked to run. And the taste of blood was still in her dry mouth, going so far as to cover the lower half of her face and even down her neck to her chest. It was deer blood, which was good due to the fact that that meant it wasn't _human_.

Chloe had tasted human blood before, unfortunately.

During the full moon she never had control - nobody did - but sometimes that got a little tiring in and of itself. Chloe _was_ one for going with the flow, sure, and that was probably because she didn't really feel like she ever had control. She was just used to it. Still, she'd sort of much rather have power over herself just enough to at least _remember_ what she did when she turned. What if she had done something _terrible_? Although she figured she would have a feeling about it if she did, the idea didn't sit very well with her. She didn't think she would be able to forgive herself in that sort of situation.

Mainly because, now that she really thought about it, what if she hurt someone she cared about? She immediately thought of Aubrey and even Beca.

Groaning, she forced herself up to her feet. No matter how tired she was she _really_ had to get out of the woods before anyone found her there _naked_. Getting all the way back to her dorm would definitely be interesting; it was early enough in the morning that hardly anyone would be out and about, but if anyone just so happened to see her she'd be screwed. How could one explain this? She'd been lucky before - she didn't need an outcry right now, because if someone found her naked she assumed they would freak out and call the police. There was a limit to her own weirdness and she was more than ready to acknowledge that.

She stumbled in between the trees, occasionally stopping to lean against one and catch her breath. All the while her legs acted like jello and she nearly fell down more than once. The toll taken on her body made her both giddy and irritated; she liked feeling so wonderfully spent and satisfied from a long night of running (and... whatever else she did), but she knew she was also going to have trouble staying awake the rest of the day. And it was weird of her to _always_ miss classes right after the full moon, so she had struggling through those to look forward to.

The edge of the trees came into view; she slowed to a stop behind one and peered around it to look for any hints of someone being nearby, her nose twitching to pick up any unusual scents. Nothing - and she couldn't hear anything particularly important, either. Judging it to be safe she slipped out from her cover and dashed to the next. It was almost like a game of hide and seek that involved moving from one place to another, to avoid being seen. She smiled tiredly. Hopefully when she got back to the dorm she would be greeted with the reassurance of Aubrey being there; the blonde would typically wake up when she got in and would immediately try to coax Chloe out of her room to be sure she was okay. Chloe thought it was just way too sweet of her, more than she deserved, and thinking about seeing Aubrey made her feel a lot better in general. And she just wanted to go back to bed, honestly.

Her luck stayed with her all the way to the dorm, and she found their hidden spare key to get inside. The second she stepped past the threshold, though, she stopped short. Something wasn't quite right... she moved further in, following any trails of Aubrey's scent she could pick up on, focusing on the freshest. Even those were from around the time right before rehearsal - meaning Aubrey hadn't been home since then. Alarm flared up in Chloe's chest and she dashed into her room to quickly throw something on, simultaneously grabbing her phone from where she'd left it on her nightstand to dial Aubrey's number. Instead she paused again, upon seeing a text from Beca. She opened it quickly.

It read: _**Aubrey stayed the night at my dorm - just thought you should know in case you get in late and worry about where she's at**_.

Chloe chewed on her lower lip in contemplation for whether or not she should send a response, or just go to Beca's dorm unannounced. Ultimately she decided on responding: _**You don't mind if I come by, do you?**_

She got dressed as she waited for a response. It didn't come as quickly as she hoped it would - she went out to make coffee to wake herself up some more, gently slapping her face as well. An hour and a lot of coffee later her phone _finally_ dinged and she saw Beca's short answer on the screen.

It said: _**Not at all**_.

Chloe took a moment to brush her teeth and get her own key before leaving the dorm, practically running out of the building.

She made it to Beca's dorm building in pretty much record time, not too surprised to catch whiffs of both the brunette's and Aubrey's scent from the night before as she made her way. To her slight surprise she realized she was _angry_ \- angry at both Beca and Aubrey, but she wasn't even entirely sure _why_. She definitely had no reason to be. It just wasn't very reasonable of her, and that in turn made her feel guilty. She stood in front of Beca's door a few seconds longer just trying to work around her own feelings. Then she knocked.

Beca answered almost right away, shooting Chloe a smirk as she stepped to the side and let the redhead in. Chloe returned the expression with a soft, shy smile of her own. "You look _beyond_ exhausted," Beca observed in a whisper. Her roommate was still asleep, practically buried under her covers. Aubrey was sprawled out in Beca's bed.

"Yeah, that's 'cause I am," Chloe quipped quietly, winking playfully.

"Are you okay?" Beca asked after moving around to sit in the chair at her desk, surveying Chloe with concerned, yet calculating eyes. The look seemed a little threatening, and in Chloe's tired and edgy frame of mind, that simply made her feel hostile.

She nodded, glancing away. "I'm fine." The urge to growl clogged up her throat.

Beca arched an eyebrow but swept on. "I hope you're not upset Aubrey stayed over."

Chloe scoffed and hoped she wasn't blushing as much as it felt like she was. "Why would I be? Aubrey can make her own choices."

"Of course. I just thought since she didn't really keep you in the loop, and there was all that howling last night, maybe you were worried."

Chloe stiffened and forced her gaze off of Aubrey's peacefully sleeping form, locking onto steel blue eyes staring back at her intensely. It was a slightly different look than she was used to from Beca - instead of the gentle curiosity Beca usually regarded her with, it was more like Beca _knew_ something that maybe Chloe didn't. She tried to ignore the look as best she could. "That's okay," she murmured. "I know Aubrey can take care of herself, and since I knew she was with you as well I figured she was _extra_ safe." She put on a big smile for show, though she really was being mostly serious.

"Yeah, I guess she was," Beca mused. There was a pregnant pause, then she got to her feet with a soft grunt. "Hey, do you wanna go on a little walk? I'll leave a note for Aubrey so she doesn't think we just disappeared off the face of the earth."

"Sure!" Chloe chirped. She got the feeling this walk wasn't necessarily going to go super well, at least not how she hoped it would. Beca ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook and jotted down a quick note that she left somewhere obvious for Aubrey to find it. They exited the dorm quickly, neither bothering to speak until they were all the way out of the building. Chloe slipped her hands into the big pocket of the Barden sweatshirt she'd thrown on and glanced at Beca out of the corner of her eye. "So did you and Bree hung out yesterday?" she said.

"Yeah, we went and got coffee," Beca half-huffed. "It was nice. I haven't really done anything with people outside of classes and Bellas rehearsals, and Aubrey's actually a nice person to hang out with," she added with a wry smirk.

Chloe giggled. "I'm glad you think so."

"Would you be willing to do something with us soon?" Beca asked, a tint of hopefulness creeping into her voice. She ducked her head down a bit and glanced at Chloe shyly.

"Are you kidding? I'd love to, Becs," Chloe guffawed. "I had a long night last night but if you guys want I'll do something with you this evening - or whenever, really."

Beca's expression suddenly changed. "What were you out doing so late, anyway?"

Chloe became defensive in an instant, but reminded herself to take a small deep breath and keep her calm. Besides, Beca couldn't _possibly_ know. "Oh, I just had a ton of homework to catch up on, and a test to study for. And one of my older brothers was passing through town so I got to see him."

"Right, you mentioned that," Beca hummed.

"It was fun, but I kinda wish I could have just done stuff with you guys instead," Chloe said with a shrug, antsy anxiety flooding through her body.

"Are you sure you're doing alright, Chlo?"

The abruptness of the question startled her and she jumped a little, whirling on Beca as she stopped walking. "Why do you keep asking that?" she retorted, just barely holding back a frustrated growl to accompany it. "I said I'm fine, Becs. Stop worrying about me so much."

"Sorry for caring about you," Beca grumbled. She seemed conflicted, like there was just something on her mind she wished she could speak up about, but was forcing herself not to.

Chloe sighed lightly. "No, I'm sorry. I'm just really tired and grumpy. I don't mean to sound ungrateful - the fact that you care means a lot to me, Beca." The brunette visibly relaxed and smiled shyly, the look in her eyes that was bothering Chloe so much disappearing. "And thank you for making sure Aubrey had a safe place to stay. You're right, all that howling was... a little, uh, disturbing, even if it was probably just those frat boys again. I would've wanted her to be somewhere with people instead of alone at our dorm."

"You weren't there at all last night?" Beca asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. Then she smirked, a bit disbelievingly. "Don't you study at home?"

"Nah, I like doing it outside." Which wasn't a lie - she _did_ prefer studying outside, especially during dusk. It was a nice time to get a lot of work done, she felt. But she _still_ thought that Beca was looking at her completely differently. "Hey, can we go back to your dorm? I drank a lot of coffee this morning and I really have to pee," she said, grinning sheepishly and mimicking a little dance like she couldn't hold it in. Beca smirked in amusement and nodded; they headed back in relative silence, and Chloe disengaged to find the bathrooms.

Upon returning to Beca's dorm she found the brunette sitting at her desk, headphones on - Aubrey was still fast asleep. Chloe sat on the edge of the bed and waited patiently so as to avoid startling Beca and causing a ruckus. She watched Aubrey's chest rise and fall with each breath, the blonde's expression the calmest it could probably ever be, her mouth parted just slightly. Chloe turned her attention onto Beca; she looked really comfortable with her headphones placed over her ears, and every movement she made to alter whatever mix she was working on was smooth. Her head started bobbing to the sound - Chloe could just barely hear it with her own, acute hearing, and wondered how _Beca_ could hear it when it was quiet as it sounded - and when she turned a little Chloe could tell she had a small smile on her face. The sight made Chloe smile as well, and she couldn't ignore the almost overwhelming happiness she felt being in the presence of both Aubrey and Beca. Her exhaustion fell to the back of her mind and she settled back into the corner of the bed, since Aubrey's legs were curled up.

She still must have somehow dosed off, because the next thing she knew she was being gently shaken, and when she blinked groggily her vision was a little unfocused. "Mm what?" she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

"Chloe, wake up! What are you doing here? You have a class - _I_ have a class that I completely _missed_ -"

"Aubrey, calm down," Chloe giggled. "Missing one class isn't going to kill you."

The blonde huffed in aggravation; she was sitting on her knees in front of Chloe. It looked like Beca had left, and so had her roommate. "What are you even doing here?" Aubrey repeated gently, but also sounding a little relieved.

"Beca had texted me last night saying you stayed over here, so I came by."

"You didn't have to," Aubrey murmured, smiling a little.

Chloe shrugged and yawned. "I didn't have anything else to do."

"You could have slept. You look exhausted. What were you up doing?" Aubrey scowled. "Last minute homework and studying again?"

The only response she got was another shrug - Chloe didn't want to keep discussing this, so she segued to a different topic. "Do you know where Beca went?" she asked, having been hoping that the brunette would still be there when Aubrey - and herself - woke up.

Her disappointment was very briefly mirrored in Aubrey's pale green eyes. "She left a note saying she had a class this morning, and then she had something she needed to take care of, but she would for sure see us at rehearsal if not before. She also said we could do something later if we're feeling up for it."

"Think you can handle being in Beca's presence another evening?" Chloe quipped, grinning even though she felt a tiny spark of jealousy when the blonde blushed.

"I was actually thinking we would cancel Bellas rehearsal today," Aubrey said quietly, eyes briefly flicking away. "They'll be more ready to work if we don't run them dry, and we can get back to things as usual tomorrow - nationals _is_ coming up."

Chloe frowned in confusion. "Who are you and what have you done to the real Aubrey Posen?" she said, earning herself a light slap on the arm. "I'm serious! Since when do you not completely prioritize the Bellas? Is this all just to hang out with Beca and I? 'Cause you can hang out with us _at_ rehearsal, _and_ afterwards." She studied Aubrey's expression. The blonde was avoiding her gaze, and she bit her lower lip as she leaned back on her ankles. Chloe quirked an eyebrow at her as if to repeat her barrage of questions.

Aubrey sighed. "Beca nearly got me to listen to one of her mixes last night, but... more importantly, she made me really rethink some things about what I've been doing to lead the Bellas, and I'm not sure if I'm doing it... right?" She flipped some hair out of her face, brows furrowing in irritation. "I don't know. She just - _confuses_ me, Chlo."

"I understand," Chloe breathed. "She confuses me, too." The jealousy was getting a bit harder to push away, but at the same time she felt a weird satisfaction. Her thoughts drifted back to what she'd talked to her mama about after first meeting Beca - having two mates _was_ possible. Was that what this was? But then why was she jealous? She shook her head to herself, glad that that was the moment Aubrey turned away to get off the bed so she wouldn't notice it. She followed the blonde and got to her feet, and suddenly remembered just _how_ exhausted she was; her legs gave out from under her and she fell onto her hands and knees with a grunt.

"Chloe!" Aubrey gasped, kneeling beside her. "Jesus, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Chloe sighed. She struggled back to an upright position, grateful that Aubrey was there to slip an arm around her waist to keep her standing. "Can we go back to our dorm so I can sleep in my own bed?" she sighed.

Aubrey nodded vigorously. "Of course, Chlo."

* * *

Chloe slept through the rest of the day, up until rehearsal, with only a little improvement on her state of exhaustion. As she walked with Aubrey to the auditorium - well, Aubrey walked, she mostly stumbled - she asked, "Do you think I could sit out today? I just... I don't know what I did, but I-"

"Yes, you can sit out," Aubrey interrupted gently. "You can't even stand for long periods of time - of course I don't want you to overexert yourself."

"Thanks," Chloe sighed in relief.

The rest of the group was already there since waking Chloe up had taken some time, and although Aubrey hated being late she was also wonderfully understanding towards Chloe's current state of being. Aubrey had decided against cancelling rehearsal; Chloe could see that, at some point in the day, the blonde had convinced herself again that what she was doing was the right thing, and it was going to get them to finals. And they were going to win.

"Hey," Beca greeted them both, shooting them an open-mouthed smirk. It faltered and she frowned in concern. "Did you not get a chance to take a nap, Chloe?"

"I _did_ ," Chloe sighed. What had she _done_ last night? She didn't remember the last time a turning had left her _this_ exhausted. She shook her head at Beca. "You don't have to worry about me, though. I'm sitting out today, but I'll still be here to help."

Beca's expression turned strangely sympathetic. "Your brother must have really tired you out, 'cause I don't get how studying could have tired you out _this_ much."

"What?" Aubrey snapped, and Chloe flinched. She whirled on the redhead with a fiery betrayal lighting up her eyes that really brought out their color. "You said he wasn't coming through town after all," she said lowly. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't lie!" Chloe gasped. "His plans just changed again."

Aubrey narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, the hurt look to them staying. Beca glanced between her and Chloe awkwardly. After a moment Aubrey let out a long sigh and just walked away, calling out to all the Bellas to gather around so they could go over the day's game plan. Chloe deflated - she doubted Aubrey would want to hang out later after this, and she didn't like the feeling of exclusion when she thought of the blonde just doing something with Beca again. But at the same time she was certain Aubrey wouldn't hold onto this for too long; the blonde came around quickly when it came to Chloe. Besides, it wasn't like Chloe really _did_ lie to her (okay she did, but it was different, and for Aubrey's safety).

She went and sat down, ignoring the continued sympathetic look Beca was giving her. With any luck time would feel like it was going by quickly and she wouldn't start to drift off, either. The last thing she needed was to give Aubrey another reason to get upset.

Unfortunately for her time went by really slowly (maybe it was karma or something) and Chloe felt horrendously unfocused throughout. Her thoughts were a garbled mess bouncing around in her head, but that seemed to wake her up so much that she became a ball of unspent energy. She was practically vibrating. The clock on the wall said they had a little less than an hour left so she got to her feet and joined the group, satisfied with the strong feeling in her legs that had been absent all morning. Aubrey shot her a slightly perplexed look and she just smiled and nodded as if to say she was fine - she got this. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Beca smirking in her direction.

"Let's go over the choreography one more time before moving on to something else," Aubrey said, clapping her hands.

Everyone stifled groans, and Beca was the one who spoke up. "Aubrey, we know that choreography like we know our _names_ ," she huffed. "It's like all we ever do. Maybe we could do something a little _different_?"

"After we go over it _one more time_ ," Aubrey retorted, speaking slowly like she was speaking to a child. Beca looked more amused than offended by that. "Nationals is coming up and we need to be prepared," Aubrey snapped. Her expression remained stoic but it was obvious by the tone of her voice that she was getting really defensive. "I don't want to hear any more complaining. Let's go!"

Chloe observed Beca as they got into place; the brunette looked annoyed now. She had clearly gotten really close to changing Aubrey's mind, at least if she'd been able to make Aubrey second-guess what she was doing. Chloe wished the blonde actually _had_ listened to Beca's mixes and wondered what had interrupted them.

They went through the choreography. Chloe caught Beca rolling her eyes almost constantly, but Aubrey didn't seem to notice, and if she did then she didn't even comment when they were done. "Alright," she said on an exhale, "that was good. We'll just do one last harmonizing exercise and then we can get out of here."

That went more smoothly than most of their exercises typically went, and everyone shared a feeling of accomplishment as they gathered their things to leave. Chloe took a cursory sniff of the air, focusing on individuals to gauge how they might otherwise be feeling based on things they'd done in the last few hours. Stacie smelled like she'd recently had sex; Amy smelled like a number of different foods; Cynthia-Rose smelled like playing cards, which was a little odd; Lily smelled a bit like fire; Jessica and Ashley hardly even smelled like anything, and whatever Chloe could pick up on was bland; and Beca smelled as she usually did. Except... Chloe paused and took a deeper sniff. Beca smelled pretty strongly of blood.

"Hey Beca!" Chloe called, abandoning her things to walk swiftly to Beca's side. The brunette turned to her with an eyebrow slightly raised in curiosity. "You um..." Chloe began, but she trailed off, unsure how to go about this. She decided to just go for it, not beat around the bush. "You haven't gotten hurt recently, have you?"

"Why, do you smell blood on me?" Beca asked in a whisper.

Chloe nearly recoiled - the tone with which Beca spoke, though, gave her pause. She sounded more worried or paranoid than accusatory. "Yes," Chloe whispered back.

"Shit," Beca sighed. "Thanks for letting me know. Is it super strong?"

"I mean... a little," Chloe stammered. Why wasn't Beca calling her out on how weird it was that she could smell that - and from so far away!? The other day when Chloe asked her why she wasn't sweating she'd gotten weird about it, but now she seemed grateful that Chloe brought it up to her, so she was aware of it.

"Do you have any, like, perfume I could borrow?" Beca asked, fidgeting. "I don't want anyone else noticing it."

Chloe shook her head slowly. "I don't think anyone else _will_."

"You think?"

"Yeah. But why-"

"So are we going to go out and do something?" Aubrey interrupted her, and she jolted in surprise - she hadn't heard the blonde approach. Beca visibly stiffened and Chloe whirled around to face their captain, who was now staring at both of them with hard eyes and an unreadable expression. She tilted her chin up a little and said, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all, Bree," Chloe chirped. "Let's go do something! I'll drive if we want to go anywhere special."

Beca chuckled. "It's Tuesday, Chlo. Should we really go out clubbing?"

Chloe angled her body so she could look at both the brunette and Aubrey; Beca was still tense and looked a bit like she would rather be somewhere else entirely. "I didn't necessarily mean _that_ ," Chloe giggled. "We could go to like... a park?"

"Really?" Beca snorted.

Chloe wasn't sure what to say; she was distracted by the way Aubrey was staring at them in such a calculating manner, eyes slowly narrowing. Swallowing nervously and grasping her suddenly shaking hands behind her back, Chloe tried again. "We could always go out for dinner or something instead," she offered.

"Maybe," Beca murmured, brows furrowing. She didn't seem to like that idea.

"Aubrey, what do you think we should do?"

That got the blonde to snap out of her trance; Aubrey jumped a little and her eyes widened. She shook her head. "We could just start walking and see where we go from there."

Grabbing their things, they headed towards the exit; they were the last ones to leave. Chloe glanced to Beca at the same time Beca glanced to her, and they shared a brief moment of what felt a lot like understanding. In that short second Chloe realized why Beca was acting so differently towards her all of a sudden. Beca _knew_. And yet that didn't bother Chloe as much as she thought it would. It was certainly weird that Beca wasn't _saying_ anything about it, but Chloe also realized that she didn't mind if Beca knew or not. The understanding she felt made it seem like Beca just... _knew_. Just knew. Which confused Chloe - if the brunette wasn't a werewolf like her, then why would she be so cool with it?

Wait - did that mean Beca was... something else?

* * *

 _A/N: Ooooooh cliffhanger! Chloe knows that Beca knows and Aubrey's still just confused._

 _Reviews are welcome and appreciated!  
_


	8. Chapter VIII

_A/N: Just a quick disclaimer, there are some lines of dialogue that I took pretty much directly from the PP script (which I found online), and I don't own those._

* * *

 **\+ VIII +**

Beca wouldn't say she was necessarily one for a lot of study - as a human she hadn't done much schooling, and even after she'd been turned there was a bit of a limit to what she put the effort into researching. Of course, she had to know how to change with the times, and be current on what technology was being created, how people talked to each other, those kinds of things. Point being, she wasn't one for seeking out random answers.

And yet she also made a few exceptions. There were things that grabbed her interest, and if she was being totally honest, myths were something she wanted to know more about. She was a _vampire_ \- which had to mean that there were other creatures out there that existed despite supposedly being fictional, right?

Naturally she had started with the existence of werewolves. Beca hadn't grown up around a lot of other vampires; the woman who sired her disagreed largely with most vampire politics, and around the time she turned Beca she had been in the middle of a time of solitude. So, as a young vampire, Beca had only been around her sire. Therefore she didn't know a _ton_ of vampire culture, which led to her researching some of it on her own - when she and her sire went back to civilization, so to speak, Beca had been old enough to decide she didn't really need the crash-course that had been a little neglected to her after turning.

But when she realized there might be other creatures out there she knew she had to figure some things out. Her sire _had_ explained some of it to her; for example, she was intimately aware of why vampires and werewolves didn't like each other. There had been feuds and even wars between them, their differences ranging from hunting or territory issues to more simple disagreements just based on how varied they were as creatures. Beca knew that, while both vampires and werewolves could just eat mammals like deer, they both preferred humans. It was a little... strange, at times, to think about. Vampires were no longer entirely human and they enjoyed drinking human blood. That was simpler to understand in Beca's mind, but that was only because she _was_ a vampire. Werewolves on the other hand were still half-human, yet Beca was told that they would rather eat human meat. Still, eating animals such as deer was a much easier substitute for werewolves than they were for vampires.

Beca knew that quite a bit of the hostilities between them had died down for the most part a few decades ago. She had been there when her clan and the ruling pack of werewolves had signed a peace treaty - it was actually what had inspired her sire to become _more_ involved with politics. She was tired of running and wanted to make a difference. Beca respected that, and it honestly didn't bother her that her sire was so busy as a result of that, because she always made time to be with her sired.

Still, Beca wasn't entirely sure how to discern a werewolf from just a human; her sire hadn't gone that far in explaining, because she thought Beca would probably never come across a werewolf. Even after the treaty had been signed (especially after the treaty, actually) werewolves and vampires had kept their distances from each other. For decades.

Now, though, Beca wished she'd asked more questions regardless. Being certain that they existed wasn't really going to help her much now. She knew enough to figure out _why_ Chloe was acting so weird, but that was due to the fact that she already... well, believed in all that. It would just soothe her anxieties if she was prepared for things Chloe might _do_. There was no way in hell she thought the redhead would put any of her friends in danger - and especially not the Bellas - but as far as she was concerned, werewolves were known for having _way_ less control over themselves when compared to vampires.

When Beca looked at Chloe now she realized she just wanted to know more about her - about her kind. Perhaps that was a bit insensitive, but she figured it was a way they could become closer, even if that seemed to exclude Aubrey. It also seemed unfair of her to be aware of Chloe's secret while Chloe wasn't aware of her own. But could she risk letting someone else know? _Would_ she?

That question ultimately took her straight to Jesse's dorm around two in the morning.

She knocked as lightly as she could, hoping to not disturb her friend's roommate. Jesse was a light sleeper so she figured he would still wake up. And just as she suspected, a few moments after knocking the door opened a crack and Jesse poked his head out.

"Becs?" he yawned, squinting at her. "What are you doing here? Geez, do you have any idea how early it is?"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Beca whispered. "I just really need to talk to you."

Jesse blinked a few times and shook his head vigorously to wake himself up some more. He slipped the rest of the way out of his dorm and gestured down the hall a bit so they would be away from all the doors. They sat with their backs against the wall; Jesse rubbed his eyes for another moment and Beca sort of just stared at him anxiously. When he finally turned to her a brief look of shock crossed his features, but it was gone before Beca could even really be _sure_ it was there. He took in her entire appearance and arched an eyebrow.

"You know, if anyone saw you running around campus this early in the morning, covered head to toe in blood, you'd probably cause mass panic," he drawled.

Beca rolled her eyes and growled lowly. "I _know_ , Jesse."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, Becs. I may be used to it, but if anyone else saw..."

Scowling, Beca glanced down at herself self-consciously. The majority of blood on her was smattered around her mouth and running down her neck and chest, which would have ruined her shirt had it not been designated for hunting (it seemed smarter than ruining outfit after outfit). Her hands were also mostly covered. She gazed at Jesse imploringly, not sure if she could say what was on her mind but really wanting to, and also seeking for a tiny bit of acceptance from her best friend. He _said_ it didn't bother him - and it helped him to know it was just deer or some other animal's blood - but Beca could still see in his eyes that there was just some... _hesitance_ he developed whenever he saw her in her true form.

And she had even reverted back to her "human form" before coming to talk to him.

Jesse's gaze softened in response to hers and he shifted a tiny bit closer, placing his hand on her knee. "What's going on?" he asked gently.

"I... okay," Beca sighed, glancing away momentarily, "let's say - _hypothetically_ \- that someone I know is... both like me, but also not."

"What?" Jesse said, frowning. "What does that even mean? Like another vampire?"

"Except not. Hypothetically."

Jesse rolled his eyes, but the look in them was mostly affectionate. "Okay, so, _hypothetically_ there's this person you know, and they're not a vampire, but they're _like_ one?" Beca nodded. "I don't get it," he huffed.

"Like a werewolf, Jesse."

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline and Beca's anxiety just increased. For a few moments he just stared at her. Then he said, very slowly, "Hypothetically?"

"Yes. And, hypothetically, let's say I know this about them, and I'm pretty sure they know I know, but I don't know how to actually come out and _say_ that. I don't want to be careless with their secret 'cause I know how important it is to keep things like this _hidden_. And, I, uh, like... I don't know if I should tell them about _me_." Beca sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair. Now that she said it out loud she felt quite a bit better, even if the anxiety was still pressing down almost painfully on her chest. At least it was just centralized there - earlier she had felt it all the way down to her feet, making her a bit clumsy during her hunt.

Jesse nodded a few times, regarding her with a serious expression. Of course he knew she wasn't actually talking in hypothetical's. "So which issue is really bothering you more?" he asked, giving her knee a small squeeze.

"I think it would be really nice to be able to tell someone... about _me_ ," Beca huffed, tone mixed with another growl. She was still a little wired from her hunt, and it was taking quite a bit of self-control to keep herself grounded, despite the time she had taken before coming to calm down. "And I don't think it's fair for me to know this about this person and not tell them that I understand how they must feel. I mean, we're both hiding ourselves from the people around us - from our friends. That can get really lonely... even if you're surrounded by others."

"Then just tell this person," Jesse murmured. He paused and stared into Beca's eyes longer than he probably meant to just because of their hypnotic quality. "Are you gonna tell me who this person _is_ , by the way?"

Beca shook her head. "No, sorry, dude. It isn't my place to say."

Jesse smirked, almost sadly, and nodded. "That makes sense. But it seems like you care about them, so I really do think you should tell them that you know, and if you think it's the right move, tell them about yourself as well. It's really up to you, Becs."

"What if they don't care about me as much as I care about them...?" Beca whispered, mostly to herself, but Jesse heard her anyway.

"You said it yourself - hiding your true self to everyone can get tiring and lonely," Jesse said. "They'll probably at least _understand_ where you're coming from, and I know that you try to not outwardly care for people when they don't show the same care for you." He shrugged in response to Beca's confused frown. "The way you're talking about this person leads me to believe you and them are pretty close. Just sayin'."

"Okay," Beca huffed. "I mean... yeah. I think, uh, they'd say we're close, too."

Jesse nodded, his expression becoming thoughtful. "And are you absolutely _certain_ this person is a, uh... werewolf?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Geez, that's weird to say."

Beca pushed him lightly. "I'm like 99% sure," she sighed. "Did you hear all that howling the other day? I'm pretty sure there aren't legit wolves _on campus_ , and I disagree with what Aubrey told me about it just being a bunch of assholes in a frat playing a prank on everyone."

"Oh, right," Jesse said, lips quirking up into a smug grin. "You hung out with Aubrey, didn't you? _And_ with Chloe."

The direction he was going in now was not one Beca wanted to join him on, and she felt herself blush as much as she was able. "Yeah?" she growled. "So? I can hang out with other friends besides you, can't I?"

"You don't have a crush on me. Or other friends."

Beca stiffened slightly. "I'm a few hundred years old," she snarled, "and a _vampire_. I don't _get_ crushes, Jesse."

"But you told me you feel different about them," Jesse said patiently. "You said you don't feel like you just want to - I dunno, have sex with them - you just _want_ them. And I seem to recall quite a bit of what you explained to me about mating, and that's exactly what this is sounding like. To me, anyway."

Beca hated it when he was right about things she should know about without his help. Yes, she'd told him all of that - but she was _far_ from ready to acknowledge any of that. It wasn't the fact that she had two potential mates that gave her hesitance (that wasn't exactly unheard of), it was the fact that Chloe was a _werewolf_. That, and could they _both_ mate with _Aubrey_ , much less each other? Unfortunately, Beca realized she was going to have to ask her sire about it. Her anxiety practically tripled with that thought. "Um... okay, sure, maybe they're both my potential mates," Beca growled, avoiding Jesse's brown eyes. "I don't think I can deal with anything like that right now. _You_ got me in this whole college mess, so now I have a lot more on my plate than I otherwise would have."

"Come on, Becs, you can deal with it all. You _know_ that." She glanced over briefly to see the fond, loyal glimmer to his gaze. "It's still all up to you, though. Just do whatever you think is right in the moment. I know nationals are coming up, so you and the Bellas must be really bearing down in rehearsal-"

"Oh, you have no idea," Beca interrupted with a chuckle. "Aubrey is going absolutely _nuts_ \- and she _still_ won't listen to any of my mixes."

Jesse grimaced in sympathy. "Are you worried about nationals?"

"I'm worried we're gonna lose," Beca admitted quietly. "I don't care a _ton_ about winning, personally, but I know it means the _world_ to Aubrey." And it probably meant quite a bit to Chloe, too, but the redhead wasn't being as crazy about it as the blonde was.

There was a slight pause and Jesse hummed. "Can you at least tell me if this werewolf you met is part of the Bellas?" he asked.

Beca just nodded.

He whistled and she snorted a little in laughter. "Alright. Well... good luck, dude."

Smiling, Beca rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Jesse."

* * *

Beca thought she was going to be sick just from the way Aubrey was looking at her, so full of betrayal and confusion and anger. The rest of the Bellas stood behind the blonde, awkwardly shuffling as they watched. Aubrey had stormed up to her the second they were off the stage and Beca was just barely holding on to her visage of not caring as much as she really did; her response to Aubrey's yelling had been instinctive defensive sarcasm.

"In case you didn't notice, everyone practically dozed off during our set," she said, glad that her voice didn't waver, but she could feel her fingers trembling at her sides. She really _did not_ like the idea that she had disappointed and upset Aubrey. At the same time she knew what she had done was in the best interest of the group. How else were they supposed to go on to finals when none of the judges liked their set, and Aubrey was too stubborn to let there be any changes to what they did?

"It's not up to you to decide what we do!" Aubrey snapped. Her face was flushed in a mixture of embarrassment and anger. "Why don't you ask the rest of the group how they felt about your little improvisation?"

Behind her the rest of the Bellas - including Chloe - shuffled more, averting their gazes from their small group member. Beca wished one of them would just _say something_ if only to pull Aubrey's attention off of her for a brief second. She looked to Chloe and her hopes were abruptly dashed. Chloe had been so weird around her ever since the two of them had hung out with Aubrey, and Beca had made it pretty clear - at least, clear enough - that she knew what Chloe was. Now when she looked into those bright blue eyes she saw how... _afraid_ Chloe was. Like Beca was just seconds away from blurting her secret just to get the attention off of herself. Beca would never do that, but it was obvious Chloe was worried about it, especially right now when all the brunette really wanted was just a little help to assuage Aubrey's rage. Instead, Beca turned to Amy, figuring the Australian girl was a good second choice. "Fat Amy?" she said.

"I mean, it was cool and all, but..." Amy sort of trailed off, still not looking Beca in the eyes, and certainly not looking anywhere near Aubrey. "I guess it sorta took us a little by surprise," she added, and the others mumbled a little in agreement.

"A _lot_ by surprise," Aubrey growled.

"Aubrey," Chloe began timidly, even drifting closer to the blonde.

"It's okay, Chloe," Beca interrupted angrily. All her anxieties and even frustrations had snapped to a head before she could even realize exactly how she felt. "You don't actually think you have a say in the group, do you?"

Chloe visibly stiffened in offense, but it only lasted a second before her expression became one of confusion. Aubrey, on the other hand, looked even more pissed. She advanced on Beca so she was standing right in front of the brunette, towering over her with her height advantage. "Your attitude _sucks_ ," she snapped.

Beca still noticed how her voice seemed to waver. She shook her head, though, and ignored everything but her instincts, and her instincts were telling her to just _run already_. "Is this what I get for trying?" she growled, lower than she meant to - Aubrey flinched. "You know what? I'm done." She loosened the Bella scarf around her neck, yanked it off, and shoved it in Aubrey's hand. The anger in Aubrey's expression suddenly slipped away and she opened her mouth to say something, but Beca was already on her way out of the performance hall. Tears prickled at the edges of her vision and she took an unneeded deep breath in a futile attempt to calm herself, before anything could leak out.

She heard someone call her name as she was leaving, but since it wasn't Aubrey or even Chloe she ignored them. Amidst the feelings of frustration and hurt there was also guilt - by leaving now she wouldn't get to see the Trebles perform, and although she figured that would just add a little salt to the wound (Aubrey hated it if any of them were so much as near a Treble without a good reason) she felt bad for leaving without seeing Jesse perform. He _was_ her best friend, after all. But her body had made up her mind for her; once she finally blinked through the unshed tears swimming in her eyes she realized she was outside, and a decent bit away from the performance hall already. She stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to just make everything feel _okay_ again.

Why was Aubrey so _mad_ at her? She had only been trying to help, and it absolutely was not her intention to make the blonde mess up a little choreography. It was just - _nobody_ was even remotely interested in the Bellas, and if Beca hadn't _done something_ then there was no way they would have any remote sort of chance. Aubrey would thank her when they advanced on to finals, just like she wanted.

Except... Beca realized she _didn't_ want them to go on to finals, even after the stunt she had just pulled, and the fact that she had pretty much just left the Bellas. Aubrey seriously just needed to realize that something had to change if they really wanted to win. Because what they were doing now just didn't cut it, and Aubrey was _too damn stubborn_ to figure that out.

Beca hissed in more breaths through her teeth; she felt out of control now more than anything, and it was familiar enough for her to grasp onto just to forget about everything else she was feeling underneath it. She was hungry, and she needed to fix that soon. Her last real hunt had practically been ages ago, and blood bags seriously didn't do what fresh blood did.

She moved to the closest cover she could find - a stretch of bushes on the other side of the road from the parking lot - and hid amongst them, body shuddering as she morphed into her less-than-human form. All she needed was a moment to figure out what she was going to do, but a sudden sound reached her ears and gave her pause. Slowly, she turned over her shoulder a bit, peering past the cover of foliage to look back at the entrance to the performance hall. Aubrey and Chloe were standing outside it; Aubrey was pacing, and it looked like Chloe was talking to her, just still too quietly for Beca to hear. It looked like they were arguing, and Aubrey seemed to be looking for something.

The fleeting thought that they were looking for _her_ crossed Beca's mind and she shoved it away. Why would either of them want to talk to her right now? She had put off talking to Chloe about anything, and that had damaged their relationship already. And what she just did during their performance? She would be lucky if Aubrey _ever_ forgave her.

Gritting her teeth, she turned her back on them, stood quickly, and ran. Her speed got her to some fast-food restaurant in about five minutes flat. It was late enough that there were hardly any cars in the parking lot, and nobody was in the drive through, but Beca didn't care about any of that. She was there for the same reason they were - for some fast-food. Something that wouldn't take too much effort to hunt down.

She picked a car, popped the lock open - a little trick she'd taught herself to aid in some hunts - and hid in the backseat to watch the doors, waiting for the person who owned the car to come out. Fortunately she didn't have to wait too long before a man, middle-aged and probably on some sort of night shift, came and got into the car. She waited until he shut his door and placed his food on the passenger seat before she acted.

It was always disappointing to her how little most people fought for their lives.

She didn't even really need to use her speed; she lunged forward and curled her body around so she would have a decent access to his neck, sinking her fangs in. The man let out a startled, confused cry that morphed into a pained scream as she started sucking his blood out through his jugular vein. He tried a few times to hit her, but they were feeble attempts, and Beca was working fast enough that he was soon too weak to do much of anything. His hands gripped meekly at her hair, pulling it out of its bun, and tugged at the collar of her shirt. It was over sooner than Beca would have liked.

Disengaging from his neck, Beca licked away the blood that had dribbled past her lips. She looked at the man - his skin was now horrendously pale, even a little gray, and his features were hollow - and then her gaze flicked over to the rearview mirror.

It wasn't true that vampires couldn't see their reflections, and although Beca didn't know why that was or anything, she _did_ know that she had probably never loathed herself more than she did in this very moment. There was blood on her face and she was still in her true form; her eyes were a bright, smooth silver, seeming a bit more sunken in than they actually were, the irises outlined with a little red but mostly black. The bones in her face were a bit sharper, the bones of her jaw longer, and her cheeks were sort of hollow, quite like the now-dead man's. Her skin was even paler than it usually was and gave off a very faint grayish glow. Looking down at her hands she saw her fingers were a bit longer and her nails had become something akin to claws, long and sharp, able to easily slice through flesh. She looked back into the mirror. Her lips were a very pale kind of pink, but her fangs glistened a bright, clean white. And, poking out from her hair, were the tips of her pointed, sort of bat-like ears.

She glanced away quickly in shame. She wasn't sure if she had _ever_ felt like she did right now, so embarrassed of what she was and hateful towards herself. Tears once again sparked up in her eyes and she hurriedly got out of the car, barely remembering to make sure the man didn't fall out and make sure no one saw her get out. Without really thinking she turned in one direction and just _ran_.

* * *

In hindsight she wasn't all that surprised with where she ended up, even if she didn't realize just where that was until she was knocking on her sire's door, Barden now about two states behind her. She blinked a few times and wiped away any remaining tears that hadn't been dried up by the wind hitting her face while she ran. A few seconds ticked by before the door was opened and her sire stood silhouetted in the doorway; the older, slightly taller woman frowned down at Beca in confusion.

"Beca?" Nadine said, her soft, thick French accent coming through prominently just from uttering the one word. "What are you doing here, _chérie_?"

"Um," Beca sniffled, "hi. I'm sorry, I just..." Her words got clogged up in her throat and all she could manage was a small whimper, before the onslaught of sobs she was so desperately holding back tumbled past her lips in full force. She stepped forward and into Nadine's arms, feeling a little calmed by the soft cooing noises her sire whispered into her hair.

"Oh, _mon petit papillon_ ," Nadine sighed. "Come inside and tell me all about it."

Beca could only nod mutely and follow her in past the threshold. She was guided over to the couch in the living room; Nadine disappeared from her side as she sat down, only to reappear with a glass of water that she placed on the glass coffee table in front of them, on top of a coaster. The older vampire just sat beside Beca and gently rubbed her back while she continued to cry a little while longer. Eventually Beca was able to calm down enough to get a few words in, to explain why she was there without any warning.

"I messed up, Nadine," she whimpered. "I was just trying to help - everyone was, like, dozing off during our set so I started singing a different song that I thought mashed well with the one we were doing, and it seemed to help, but Aubrey got mad at me and Chloe wouldn't even help me out and-"

"Slow down, Beca," Nadine interrupted her, gently but forcefully. "Aubrey and Chloe... the two girls you think are potential mates for you?"

Beca nodded. That was about the extent of what she'd told her sire - she was too scared to say anything else, namely the fact that Chloe also just so happened to be a werewolf.

"Well, if that connection is real, they must feel it, too," Nadine murmured. "They'll come around, Beca. However, _you_ should _also_ come around and apologize to them as soon as you can - otherwise they may feel as if it wouldn't be worth their time."

Again, Beca nodded, feeling mute. It was probably now or never if she was going to come clean to her sire. "There's something you should know about Chloe," she whispered under her breath, hoping Nadine wouldn't hear it, but of course she did. The older vampire gave her a supportive, go-ahead nod, gaze swimming with sympathy. Beca realized she had neglected to shift back into her "human" form, but that hardly mattered at this point. She tried to steady herself a little, glancing away briefly before locking back onto Nadine's eyes, which were such a dark brown they were practically black, but warm nonetheless.

Beca sat up a bit straighter and squared her shoulders.

"Chloe is a werewolf."

* * *

 _A/N: OH BOY YOU GUYS. I am sooo excited to write the next chapter, and I want you guys to be excited too, because so many good things are gonna happen in it. With that being said, it might take me a tiny bit longer to get that chapter up - it also might not - just because I'm no longer ahead of myself. Just a warning in case that does happen._

 _But yeah, tell me what y'all think of this chapter! I hope you guys like being introduced to Beca's sire, and she's gonna come up more later of course (same goes with Chloe's family and her pack). Also if anyone notices that any French I use isn't correct it's because I just used google translate - I don't personally know, like, any French. If you want, please correct me!_

 _And please let me know if the description of Beca's vampire form makes sense. I figured most of it does, except maybe one or two parts... just tell me if anything confuses you!_


	9. Chapter IX

_A/N: Again, as a disclaimer, I lifted some dialogue from the movie and I don't own that.  
_

* * *

 **\+ IX +**

In just the span of about a half-hour Aubrey's whole life had practically imploded. And - okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was definitely what it felt like to her.

It started the second she stepped off the stage at nationals. She had spiraled out of control (regardless of whether or not she would actually admit that) and her reaction to Beca's stunt had perhaps been a bit much. She regretted it the second she saw the tiniest flash of hurt snap through those steel blue eyes, then regretted it even more when Beca stormed off. And then she got in a small fight with Chloe, just to kick herself when she was down. Now she just wasn't sure what she was supposed to _do_.

Beca had been in the wrong, she knew that. The brunette had had good intentions, but she shouldn't have sprung it on her and the rest of the Bellas right in the middle of an important performance. They had lost - which wasn't necessarily Beca's fault entirely - and that had been just about the last straw. Aubrey would have thrown a fit, maybe withdrawn herself from the situation as much as possible and just hide in her room, but she was a Posen. She refused to do either of those things. She would keep her head high and her pride intact, no matter what she went through.

The same couldn't be said for Chloe. The redhead had already seemed less exuberant than usual around the time she and Aubrey had hung out with Beca (not a particularly special experience, Aubrey admitted disappointedly, but absolutely enjoyable and she would do it again if things hadn't turned out the way they had). It was weird to see; Chloe was usually just so bright, bubbly, and happy, and she was similar to Aubrey in the way that she wouldn't let things get to her - just for different reasons than the fact that Aubrey prioritized her pride. And Aubrey wasn't sure how to help her friend feel better. Whenever they weren't in class or doing last-minute studying for finals before spring break, Chloe was on the phone with her mother. Aubrey didn't know how to approach her.

Spring break hadn't helped anything, either. They _were_ only a few days in, but Aubrey had hardly seen much of Chloe. She wasn't staying in her bedroom or anything, which was a fairly good sign, although she was out of the dorm more often than not. Aubrey assumed she was going on runs to keep herself active (now that they didn't _need_ more Bellas rehearsals) and, Aubrey assumed, hanging out with some other friends she had. And worst of all...

Neither of them had seen Beca since nationals.

Aubrey sighed to herself and turned up her music, adjusting her earbuds to make sure the sound was coming through clearly. She was at the gym, making her way to the yoga room so she could do some stretches. As she walked "Bulletproof" came on shuffle and she instinctively stiffened. All she could really hear was Beca singing it underneath her singing of "The Sign". She grit her teeth, fished out her iPod, and changed the song.

Once she got to the yoga room she switched out her earbuds for her phone's earpiece, a habit she'd learned from her mother, even if she tended to get too much in the zone that she didn't always notice a call if she got one. She rolled out her yoga mat and started with a few of the easier stretches, then went into her core workout.

Her phone started ringing when she was halfway through; she pressed the answer button on her earpiece. "Hello?" she said.

" _Hello, is this Aubrey Posen? Captain of the Barden Bellas_?" the speaker responded.

"Yes, this is she."

" _Will you and the Bellas be available to attend and compete in the finals? As it turns out, the group who won second place in nationals had a high school singer in it, which called for immediate disqualification. That means the Barden Bellas got second place on default_."

A surge of excitement and relief coursed through Aubrey's body. "Yes - yes, we are absolutely available to perform! Thank you!" she nearly cried. She was given a few more details before she hung up. "Yes!" she half-whispered to herself. It didn't matter that she wasn't done with her workout, she needed to get back to the dorm and tell Chloe the good news (in hopes the redhead was actually there). She hurriedly got her things out of her locker and left the gym.

Back at the dorm she thankfully found Chloe in the kitchen. The redhead smirked at her, cradling a mug of tea to her chest. Even in her excitement Aubrey could see any happiness in her smirk didn't quite reach her eyes. "What's up, Bree? You look excited," she said.

"I just got a call asking us if we can still perform at _finals_!" Aubrey replied, sweeping past her concerns for the time being. "The group who won second place was disqualified because one of the members was still in high school - Chloe, we're going to finals! We have to gather up the Bellas immediately and get back to rehearsal, finals isn't too long after spring break and we have some time to catch up on-"

"Whoa, slow down, Bree," Chloe chuckled, placing her mug on the countertop and getting to her feet. She was moving sort of slowly. "I'll send out a group text to everyone, just take a few breaths before you pass out."

Aubrey supposed she was breathing a bit erratically; she nodded and took Chloe's advice, breathing in deeply through her nose and exhaling out her mouth. She felt her face split into a grin and squealed, leaping forward to wrap her arms around Chloe's neck. Chloe just giggled and hugged her back. "This is it, Chlo!" Aubrey cried, pulling back to hold the redhead at arm's length. "We're going back to finals - I can finally redeem myself, we can finally beat those aca- _asshole_ Treblemakers!"

"It's gonna be great," Chloe practically purred, winking.

On a complete impulse Aubrey leaned forward and kissed Chloe on the cheek, perhaps lingering longer than necessary before her mind caught up with the action and screamed at her to move back. She might've flinched a little, and she couldn't help clearing her throat awkwardly as her face heat up in a blush. Chloe was staring at her with this unreadable _look_ that freaked her out more than anything. "I'm, uh, going to go take a shower," Aubrey half-sighed, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest. "Text the Bellas, we should start rehearsing in an hour." Without waiting for a response she spun on her heel and went into the bathroom.

She got into the shower and exhaled another deep breath. What with the pressure of getting through nationals, the fight with Beca, and losing, Aubrey had completely ignored _all_ of her feelings unless they were betrayal or anger. Now all of it was just making her nauseas.

The truth was... she was well aware that her feelings for Chloe _and_ Beca had suddenly started running a hell of a lot deeper without her even _noticing_. Maybe it was when they had all hung out together - Aubrey didn't notice it at the time since she thought what they'd done hadn't even been all that special, and nothing had _happened_ , exactly. They'd gone out to eat dinner together, that was it. Perhaps the most "special" part of it was how weird it was to see Beca and Chloe eat. While Chloe got just about the biggest dish the restaurant served and ate all of it in an unprecedented short amount of time, Beca had ordered something that was practically an appetizer and spent most of the evening just picking at it. Aubrey didn't know what that _meant_ , if it meant anything at all, but she found it odd and just... well, adorable.

She wasn't _sure_ when it started.

Maybe it was when Beca told a truly stupid joke and Chloe's face had just radiated with a giant grin that made her eyes sparkle like crystals.

Maybe it was when both of them made Aubrey laugh so hard she let out a very unladylike snort, which in turn made Chloe giggle in delight whereas Beca threatened having something new to tease Aubrey with.

Maybe it was when they were walking around in the downtown area after eating, Aubrey in between them, their conversation light and comfortable.

Maybe it was when Aubrey realized just how at _home_ Beca looked, at night.

Maybe it was when Aubrey realized just how beautiful Chloe was under the moonlight.

No matter what it was, Aubrey knew that whatever it had been had made her realize something subconsciously that was only rearing its head right _now_ , of all times.

She was falling in love with Beca and Chloe.

And what did that _mean_? One of Aubrey's quirks (or perhaps faults) was her tendency to over think something to death, just to rationalize her feelings and maybe even try to come up with every possible outcome to those feelings. She was still worried about what her father would think - hell, what _all_ of her family would think, if she brought home not just _one_ girlfriend but _two_. At the same time, she realized in a split second (wherein she almost let some shampoo get in her eye) that she didn't actually _care_ what anyone thought. If she could just be _happy_ with Beca and Chloe, nothing else really mattered.

What was another anxiety about it? Well, she and Beca were no longer on speaking terms, even if Aubrey had gone after the brunette when she left the performance hall. Aubrey's pride was making it hard for her to so much as fathom the idea of apologizing. She also couldn't say that Beca would be the bigger person and apologize first - because they were both at fault.

But was Aubrey going to let someone she cared about so much slip through her fingers?

Actually, she first wanted to figure out roughly _when_ she had started to care about Beca so much. She knew why she cared about Chloe - she'd known the redhead for years now, and they were very close friends. Their connection was almost instantaneous, now that Aubrey thought back on it. She didn't think she'd ever become so close to someone so quickly like she was with Chloe before in her life. That kind of scared her as well, and she wondered how she hadn't realized it sooner.

It seemed to play along with how she felt like she needed to be around Chloe and Beca basically at all times, or at least just _one_ of them. She craved their presences and yet she had also buried that emotion. Her father had laid out a very specific path for her and she had subconsciously filed away any feelings that went against that. But she could no longer deny that she felt a sort of connection to Beca like the one she felt for Chloe, and she almost felt like she would _die_ if she didn't do something about it. Which was perhaps way too dramatic, but it unfortunately seemed like the reality of things; she needed to come clean about her feelings soon, or - at the very least - make up with Beca. She would be lying if she said she didn't want the brunette or Chloe to make the first move, even if she doubted they would, because even if one (or both, she thought giddily) returned her feelings there was no telling if they like _each other_. Aubrey realized quickly that that was a silly thought. She'd seen the way Chloe sometimes looked at Beca, and although it at times made her jealous, it mostly just made her happy. It was like the three of them just _belonged_ together.

She finished washing and turned the water off, biting her lip against a smile as she got out and grabbed a towel. She would start with finding Beca and talking to her. Then she could deal with everything else later, maybe even after they figured out - and won - finals.

* * *

The rest of the Bellas did not react as strongly to the good news as Aubrey thought they would. In fact, they hardly reacted at all.

"What's wrong with all of you?" she snapped, immediately feeling defensive. "The aca-gods have given us a second chance at finals! How are you all not excited about this?" She crossed her arms across her chest and surveyed all of them. Most of them weren't even daring to make eye-contact, and when she glanced to Chloe she saw the redhead looked a little upset, but there was no surprise in her expression.

"Listen, Aubrey," Fat Amy began with a heavy sigh, "this isn't... right. You know?"

"Yeah, we need Beca," Cynthia-Rose said.

A pang of hurt thrummed through Aubrey's chest, and her first instinct to hide that was to disagree - even if that wasn't the case. "We do not _need_ Beca," she hissed through clenched teeth. "I bet we'll be better off without her, actually." The words were a bit painful to say; she hoped just as much as they apparently did that Beca would come back. But she wasn't going to _say_ that. At least, her pride wouldn't let her.

"Come on, Bree," Chloe sighed. "You know that isn't true. Besides..." She paused and shuffled awkwardly, though her blue eyes stayed locked on Aubrey's. "I texted her about it."

"What?" Aubrey gasped, trying desperately to ignore the hope blooming in her chest.

" _She_ makes us better," Chloe said sharply. "I think we _do_ need Beca, because otherwise we're just going to go to Lincoln Center with the same songs we've been performing _all damn year_ , and we're going to lose!" She threw her hands up in the air and made a noise of exasperation. "Aubrey, you can't seriously believe doing songs over and _over_ are going to get us anywhere. We only won regional's because we were just a little bit better than the other group, and if losing nationals doesn't tell you anything, then I don't know what else I'm supposed to say to get you to come around."

Aubrey felt a sting behind her eyes that hurt more than anything, and she blinked furiously in an attempt to make the tears go away before they even surfaced. "That's not an opinion for you to have, Chloe. _I_ am the captain and _I_ say what we do."

Chloe narrowed her eyes and an unfamiliar shock of fear coursed through Aubrey's system. She had never before seen the redhead look so... _dangerous_. "There are other opinions besides yours, you know," Chloe growled. "You're not _always_ right."

Her tone was just as frightening - Aubrey thought it even sounded a little animalistic. Unfortunately that little bit of fear she suddenly felt seemed to be an unneeded push for her body, and she felt her stomach coil with nausea. She swallowed forcefully. "Look, let's just rehearse for a little while and see where we're at," she snapped, holding her hands up.

"We don't want to be the same as all the Bellas that came before us," Stacie interjected.

"Yeah, let's just be _us_ ," Cynthia-Rose huffed.

Lily said something nobody could hear, and they all gave her perplexed looks as the silence stretched out, the tension multiplying.

Aubrey shook her head. In all truthfulness she didn't know what to say; in the meantime the nausea was getting worse, and she knew what _that_ usually meant.

"Why don't you just let _us_ have a little say in what we do?" Chloe huffed, crossing her arms and tilting her chin up a tiny bit, almost as if in warning. "You _are_ the captain, but that shouldn't mean we can't add in our own sounds. That's all Beca's been trying to get you to understand, and I _know_ she was starting to get to you. What changed?"

Aubrey didn't say anything. She was worried about what might happen if she opened her mouth, no matter how many times she swallowed.

Chloe arched an eyebrow, seeming unimpressed. "We should have listened to Beca."

"Oh, so now it's _my_ fault?" Aubrey snapped despite herself.

For a very brief second Chloe's lips twitched up into the beginnings of a sneer. "That's not what I'm saying," she snarled.

"No, no, I get it now," Aubrey said, voice a little high-pitched. "That's what all of you _think_ , right? I'm just a total bitch most of the time, obsessed with winning and-" She cut herself off and slapped a hand over her mouth, gagging. Chloe's eyes widened like she knew what was probably about to happen. "You know," Aubrey began, not quite with the conviction she would have liked as she lowered her hand, "I don't _have_ to be so controlling. I know that that's what you all think I am - controlling - but I can let go! This time I'm not going to choke it down!"

"Been there before," Stacie chuckled. Then she frowned and said, "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"I think she's gonna hurl!" Cynthia-Rose cried, scrambling backwards.

"Aubrey, please don't," Chloe pleaded, back to sounding much more like herself. "We get the point, you don't have to do this."

But at this point Aubrey didn't really think she had a choice. It was her own fault - she had been pushing down the majority of her emotions just to focus on staying bitter towards Beca, and angry about losing. Now she had not only recognized those feelings but they were having this big fight, and she didn't really know what to do (she still thought that following in the steps of previous Bellas was going to get them to win, even if her heart told her Chloe was right, and they should have listened to Beca), and Chloe was freaking her out, and-

She vomited on the floor, earning a chorus of ew's or other cries. Past more and some dry heaving she saw Chloe scrunch up her nose before covering it with her sleeve. Once she was done her stomach remained in a state of uneasiness and she groaned lightly, straightening.

"We could have been champions!" Chloe suddenly cried. "You just had to vomit all over the freaking audience, though, didn't you?!"

In a flash of movement Chloe was standing right in front of Aubrey; she let out a startled yelp that died halfway out her throat at the look in Chloe's eyes. Time seemed to freeze for a moment wherein they just stared at each other, and although Aubrey knew Chloe would never hurt her, there was a distinct lack of _control_ in those blue eyes that was deeply unsettling.

"Give me the pipe," Chloe demanded in a growl.

And then all hell broke loose.

Fat Amy let out a roar and tackled both Chloe and Aubrey to the floor at the same time, sending them into a sprawling heap of limbs. Everyone else started shouting at each other, and Aubrey was pretty sure she heard someone blowing their rape whistle, but it was all too much to take in. She had the captain's pitch pipe in her hand at one point but then it was knocked out, and she and Chloe both squirmed across the floor to get it. Out of the corner of her eye Aubrey saw Lily had jumped on Amy's back, Jessica and Ashley had found cover underneath the seats, and Cynthia-Rose was trying to take Stacie's whistle away from her so she'd stop blowing into it. Everything had just spiraled so abruptly out of control and Aubrey didn't know what to do - she felt like she was either about to start throwing up again or burst into tears.

"Whoa, whoa! You guys, what the hell? Stop!"

Everyone froze at the sound of Beca's voice; the brunette was standing a good distance away from all the chaos, eyes a bit wide in shock although it also kind of looked like she was holding back a smirk of amusement. Aubrey jumped to her feet at the same time Chloe did and they both just panted as they watched Beca take a few more cautious steps forward.

"Th-this is a Bellas rehearsal," Aubrey snapped weakly.

"I know," Beca said, holding up her hands as if in surrender. "I just..." she sighed and looked down at her feet for a moment. "Look, what I did was a total dick move, and I'm _sorry_. To all of you. I shouldn't have just changed the set without asking first. It messed us up, and for that I am truly, wholeheartedly sorry." She paused again and sought Aubrey out. Aubrey felt her heart practically skip a beat from the intensity of those steel blue eyes - she realized she'd missed seeing them since Beca stormed out of the nationals performance hall. "Aubrey, if you'd have me," Beca continued, "I'd like back in."

Aubrey let out a shaky exhale, feeling a bit winded and maybe even dizzy. Everyone's eyes were on her and she shook her head. "Beca, I... I'm sorry, too. I reacted too strongly to what you did - I just wanted to be angry instead of work with you." She took a deep, steadying breath and turned to Chloe. "And I'm sorry to you, too, Chlo. You're right, I've been a total bitch this year, and I should have listened to Beca sooner. I don't know what was stopping me." Chloe's gaze and posture softened considerably, making Aubrey instantly relax. She turned and picked up the pitch pipe from the floor, walking over to take Beca's hand and place it in her open palm. The brunette arched an eyebrow at her, smirking. "What do we do, Beca?"

Her slim, pale fingers curled around the pipe, and Aubrey realized she was still holding onto her wrist. She let go and felt herself flush. Beca just continued to smirk, angling her body so she was also facing the others a bit more. "I was thinking about this a lot since I, uh... ran away. I thought, even if we don't change the set - although we really should - we also don't even really _know_ that much about each other. And I think that should change." She gestured for everyone to sit down, but stayed standing herself. Once everyone was gathered she took a deep breath; her gaze seemed to linger on Chloe for a second. "Here's something none of you know about me," she sighed shakily. "My... my parents are dead. And I... have a, uh, sort of... condition," she stretched the word out a little, like she was buying for time, "wherein I can't really... well, let's just say I can get heatstroke super easily." Glancing down at her feet again she cleared her throat rather loudly. "Okay, who's next? Stacie, maybe?"

The taller brunette nodded resolutely and stood. "I... have a lot of sex, but that isn't the whole story," she began. "When I was in middle school a lot of people called me a slut just because I went through a lot of boyfriends, and one of my ex's spread the rumor that we'd had sex. After that I just... well, it wasn't true, but I didn't know how to get anyone to believe me. Then when I _did_ have sex for the first time and realized how much I like it, I got diagnosed with compulsive sexual behavior."

"Damn," Beca hissed, after Stacie sat down. "Um... Cynthia-Rose?"

"Right," Cynthia-Rose huffed, standing and clapping her hands once. "This isn't super easy for me to tell you guys..."

"It's alright," Fat Amy interrupted. "Lesbi-honest."

Cynthia-Rose just scowled at her for a second. "I have a serious gambling problem," she then said in a rush. "It all started when I broke up with my girlfriend - we'd been together for a long time, and I didn't know how to deal with the break-up."

Beca nodded a few times. "Amy?"

The Australian girl laughed nervously. "Come on, guys, I'm an open book! You all call me _Fat_ Amy, for god's sake." The nervous laughing continued, then it faltered and she said sadly, "My real name is Fat Patricia."

Chloe stood up abruptly. "I have something to tell you all," she said, and Aubrey couldn't help but notice the fearfully expectant look Beca was now giving the redhead. The anxiety and nausea Aubrey felt suddenly got a little bit worse and she took a few quiet deep breaths in hopes that would calm herself down. Chloe was looking around at anything else but she looked at the others when she started speaking. "Sort of like Beca, I also have a... condition. It's hard to explain, but... because of it I sometimes just feel really lonely, even when I'm around people. I feel isolated - like I can't really be myself around everyone I meet."

Aubrey scowled. Before this very moment she thought she knew everything there was to know about Chloe - even if she still _felt_ like the redhead wasn't telling her something. Chloe sat down while a few people murmured little things of support; she just smiled ruefully and gave Beca a slight nod. Although Aubrey didn't know what that meant, it seemed like Beca did, and the brunette smiled back at Chloe before turning her attention away.

"Who's next? Aubrey, maybe?" she prompted.

Nodding, Aubrey stood. She racked her brain for something to say, but most things she came up with didn't seem necessary to share. There wasn't really anything about her that she wanted to get off her chest. And, in the growing silence, she felt as if she were seconds away from a panic attack. Her mind blanked for a second and she blurted out, "I like girls."

Everyone stared at her in open-mouthed shock. Her face heated up in an intense blush.

"Way to go, girl," Cynthia-Rose murmured supportively, and Aubrey relaxed a fraction. It didn't really last longer than a moment.

"Wait, what?" Chloe gasped. "You - really?!"

And Aubrey let out a torrent of word vomit. "I didn't want to acknowledge it because my father has always had my whole life planned out, and I assume he wouldn't want me to bring a girl home, but I've had these feelings for - _years_ now, and they only got worse more recently, and I don't really know what to do about any of it besides to just force it down and-" She clamped her mouth shut, fearful for another bout of literal vomit even if she was pretty sure her stomach was empty at this point. Her heart pounded in her chest and she made a conscious effort to make sure her breathing wasn't coming out in quick, short gasps, which proved to be more difficult than she would have liked in this moment.

"God, Aubrey, please don't vomit again," Fat Amy pleaded. She leaned forward a bit with her hands up. "We don't give a shit if you like girls, honestly."

"And you're an adult," Stacie huffed. "You don't have to do what your dad says."

"Who do you have a crush on?" Cynthia-Rose asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"Okay, I think that's enough sharing," Aubrey barked. Ignoring the amused, sly glances everyone shared with each other she turned to Beca. "Finals is fast approaching. We need to figure out what we're going to do, Beca."

The brunette took a small step forward. "Then let's get started right away," she said, that trademark smirk of hers blooming across her features. "But not here," she added abruptly with a meaningful glance at the large pile of vomit on the floor. Aubrey blushed heavily and wiped some of it off her mouth and chin with her sleeve, avoiding Beca's amused - and oddly affectionate - gaze.

* * *

The late evening air was crisp and cool as Aubrey and Chloe left the empty swimming pool and started walking in the direction of their dorm. They had just split off from the rest of the group after a truly outstanding "remix" (as Beca called it), everyone promising each other to work hard at rehearsals for the rest of spring break so they would be as prepared for finals as they could possibly be.

Aubrey just wished Beca would walk them home, but the brunette suddenly seemed distracted when they were done, so Aubrey didn't dare approach her and ask. Chloe was in a similar state, and she kept rushing them to get home quickly.

"What's your deal, Chlo?" Aubrey huffed, planting her feet more firmly to the sidewalk in an attempt to stop Chloe from pushing her. It was more or less useless - the redhead was just deceptively strong. "Curfew isn't for another few _hours_ , why don't we just enjoy how nice tonight is?" she added gently.

Chloe growled behind her but moved nonetheless so they were walking side by side. A few moments ticked by in silence before Chloe spoke. "So who _do_ you like?" she asked.

Sudden panic made Aubrey flinch, and she glanced at Chloe out of the corner of her eye. Was it just her, or were those blue eyes brighter than usual? "I... I don't know if I can tell you, Chlo," she muttered.

"Aubrey, we've been best friends for four years now," Chloe sighed. She paused as if she were really studying the blonde's expression and body language. "Is it Beca?"

"What?" Aubrey spluttered. "Why-"

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that," Chloe interrupted in a rush. "You _did_ say it's been going on for years now. Who else have you known that long..."

She said the last part to herself, but part of Aubrey was just too focused on the tone of her voice. It sounded a lot like it had during rehearsal when they were fighting, and it just didn't sit right with Aubrey. Something was remarkably different with Chloe - she just wasn't sure _what_. Her eyes were oddly bright and she was glancing around furtively, she was moving jerkily like she felt sore, and her tone was a bit deeper, more animalistic. What did-

Aubrey nearly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Those were all the symptoms of Chloe's weird behavior once every month, just minus the sickly appearance. Why was it different all of a sudden? She opened her mouth to speak up about it but Chloe beat her to it.

"We should _really_ get back to the dorm," the redhead mumbled. Her body was practically vibrating. "I'd say we only have a few more minutes..."

"A few - what? Chloe-"

"You should just go home without me, actually," Chloe interrupted again, coming to an abrupt halt and turning to Aubrey. "I'll see you in the morning, okay? I just remembered there's something I have to do."

Aubrey shook her head even though she wasn't _entirely_ sure what she was protesting. "I'm not just going to leave you to walk home by myself," she huffed.

"You'll be perfectly safe, Bree," Chloe retorted. "As long as you leave _right now_."

"I'm not-"

"Just _go_!" Chloe yelled, pushing Aubrey in the direction they'd been going in. She did it too forcefully, though, and sent Aubrey sprawling to the ground with a soft grunt of pain when her elbows hit the concrete. She saw a flash of apology go through Chloe's eyes before she turned and started walking in a different direction, across the lawn they were next to and towards the tree line of the small on-campus forestry area.

Aubrey scrambled to her feet and ran around to be in front of her. "What has gotten into you?" she cried.

Chloe shut her eyes tightly and brushed past her.

"I'm talking to you!" Aubrey snapped shrilly, striding after her. "I don't understand why you get like this every month - I told you something you didn't know about me that was really important, and everything you said was just super vague. I _know_ there's something you're not telling me, Chloe, and I'm not going back to the dorm until you _tell me_!"

She stopped a few feet behind the redhead, who had also slowed to a stop, and panted from the slight exertion of her outburst and the hurt she suddenly felt. She expected Chloe to turn around and talk to her - but she was unfortunately mistaken. Chloe fell forward onto her knees, back arching as she lurched forward onto her hands as well, a choked, gurgled sort of noise escaping her throat. Aubrey jumped and quickly made her way around so she was standing in front of her again, crouching down with a trembling hand extended.

"Chloe?" she whispered unintentionally.

Her response was another gurgled sort of groaning sound, and Chloe looked up at her. That fear Aubrey had felt earlier came back tenfold. Chloe's eyes were definitely different; they were a bit sunken in, ringed with black, and the blue iris was absolutely glowing more than was normal, not to mention it had stretched out to cover up the whites of her eyes. Her body was still vibrating a little and now there was some drool dribbling out of the corner of her mouth.

Aubrey got the distinct feeling that she shouldn't be where she was right now, and her legs told her to run away, but her brain told her to wait. She continued to reach forward, aiming to place her hand on Chloe's shoulder.

Chloe's eyes darted away from her own to her hand, and she snapped her jaws at it, but Aubrey recoiled just in time with a sharp yelp. She fell on her rear and clambered back a few more feet. Chloe made a move to follow her, suddenly letting out a pain-filled cry, snapping her eyes shut and pressing the heel of one hand into her forehead. Her back arched again and a loud series of cracking sounds rang through the still air. Chloe groaned loudly, and all Aubrey could do was watch as her arms and the lower half of her legs grew longer, and her clothes started ripping. She tossed her head back and forth and suddenly her features changed; when she craned her head back Aubrey saw that her teeth had become sharpened fangs, and then her mouth elongated into a snout, her ears becoming pointy. Her long red hair darkened to gray and turned into what looked like fur covering her now naked body, the torn remnants of her clothing pooled around her. Then she... paused.

Aubrey realized she wasn't exactly breathing and took in a shuddering, high-pitched breath that lost its momentum the second Chloe's attention snapped back on her. Baring her huge teeth, a low growl erupted from her throat. She moved forward on all fours - her hands were still a bit human-like, fingers ending in claws, but her feet were more like paws - and Aubrey instantly moved backwards in response. The growling got louder.

In a split second Aubrey made the decision to _run_ ; she sort of awkwardly turned and got to her feet, taking off at a sprint into the trees. Behind her she heard a howl.

She kept running, ignoring the sting of thin branches smacking into her face. Everything whipped past her in a blur.

It was still fairly dark and she wasn't _quite_ looking where she was going, and with a surprised yelp she suddenly felt the ground beneath her feet disappear. She tumbled down a short hill and when she rolled to a stop she came face-to-face with a recently dead deer.

And the shock of that was basically nonexistent compared to what she saw when she looked up.

Her eyes met with a pair of blatant silver locked onto her own with a hint of fear mixed in with shock. The second thing she noticed was a sharp, slim pair of glistening white fangs poking out from a partially opened mouth, tainted mostly with blood that went on to cover grayish, slightly glowing skin. Aubrey blinked.

Beca blinked back.

The brunette's facial features were sharper, and her cheeks were hollow - she looked alarmingly _dead_ , not to mention frightening. Her ears poked out from her hair a bit and resembled that of bat ears, almost. Her hands rested atop the deer and Aubrey saw more blood glint off ridiculously sharp, scissor-like claws.

"...Aubrey?"

"What the aca-hell?" Aubrey whimpered, and a few tears slipped down her cheeks.

Beca shuffled towards her a little bit. She flinched. "Hold on, Aubrey, just stay calm," the brunette said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Another howl rang through the air, sounding awfully close.

"Oh shit," Beca hissed. She moved suddenly and Aubrey felt herself lifted from the ground, realizing that Beca was now holding her bridal-style in her arms. The next thing she knew - and in another blur of movement that left her feeling dizzy - they were standing outside of Aubrey and Chloe's dorm. Beca set her down. "You better stay inside. I can... I can stay with you, if you want," the brunette practically whispered.

Aubrey turned to her again; in the light of the hallway she could very obviously see all the blood covering her front. She grasped blindly for the doorknob, pulling her keys out of her pocket at the same time. Every part of her was shaking and she just couldn't tear her gaze off of Beca's. Those silver eyes watched her with concern. Aubrey mumbled something incoherent and sobbed quietly, turning fully to her door to unlock it and throw herself behind its protection, locking Beca out in the hallway. Past all the fear she felt a little guilt and hurt for just shutting Beca out like that. But she needed to get _away_.

She dashed into her room, shutting the door and heaving her dresser in front of it to block anyone's entrance. Then she jumped underneath the covers without bothering to kick her shoes off first, or take off her jacket. She laid curled up in the fetal position in the dark, body still trembling violently, whimpers replacing the sobs she was so desperately holding back.

What the hell had just _happened_? Chloe was - and Beca-

Aubrey shook her head to herself and willed her thoughts to just stop. She didn't think she was going to get any sleep tonight, but trying to was still better than getting lost in her own head. The rest of her room was silent; every once in awhile she could hear Chloe somewhere out there, howling. Her heart thundered in her chest and she cried.

* * *

 _A/N: Omg y'all. Sorry this one took a bit longer, and that it's kinda long. But it should be worth it, I hope! I really enjoyed writing this chapter._

 _In the scene where the Bellas are sharing things about themselves, I added in a few things (and obviously changed some) because I wanted to give the scene more depth. In the movie I always feel like the scene doesn't really flow very well, and I wanted some of the "background" characters to have some more going on for them.  
_

 _Please let me know what you think of this chapter! It's a big one! And I should be back on track with updating after this._


	10. Chapter X

**\+ X +**

Chloe woke up and immediately felt a thrumming pain throughout her body. Last night's turning had been one of the worst she'd ever had, and she didn't know why that was. She got up and hissed in pain; her joints ached something fierce. There was also a lot of tiny cuts scoring up and down her arms, most likely from the bundle of brambles strewn around her that seemed to have been ripped from their source. All in all, though, the damage wasn't anything bad or something she couldn't deal with. She struggled to her feet and started in the direction of home, smacking her dry lips and wishing she had some water.

Thankfully she made it back to the dorm building quickly, and without seeing anyone. That luck changed when she saw Beca sitting with her back to her and Aubrey's door; the brunette looked up at her as she approached. Chloe only had half a mind to cover herself a little bit as she gazed down at Beca in confusion, waiting for her to say something.

When she didn't Chloe let out a soft sigh. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?"

Beca got to her feet with a small huff. The lower half of her face and almost her entire front was covered in dried, strongly smelling blood. Chloe could tell it came from a deer. "I'm fine - it's Aubrey I'm worried about," she muttered. "Look, I know we haven't really talked about this at all, but I've made it pretty clear I know what's going on with _you_ ," she continued, slipping her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

"Yeah, you have," Chloe said, letting out a breathy laugh. "I meant to ask you about it, but I was also... scared. I hope you understand."

"Of course I do," Beca scoffed. "I'm not... _like_ you, but I also am. If that makes any sense. What I mean to say is - I'm a vampire, Chloe. And I know you're a werewolf. And now Aubrey knows about both of us."

Shock and fear collided in Chloe's system and she let out a confused, strangled noise. Beca just angled her head towards the door in response; Chloe got out the hidden spare key and opened it up. She could smell that Aubrey had come in and ran directly to her room - the smell of fear was very potent and still pretty fresh, practically wafting from the direction of Aubrey's room. Chloe walked into the dorm with Beca behind her.

"I... I'm going to throw some clothes on," she mumbled to Beca, and the brunette nodded. She disappeared to her room, got dressed, and when she went out into the hallway she found Beca standing in front of Aubrey's door. "Hold on," Chloe hissed. "What makes you say that Aubrey knows about both of us? And we're definitely revisiting the whole vampire thing, too, because I've been trying to figure out what you are for awhile now, since you clearly aren't like me." Gesturing back to the living room, she led Beca out to the couch.

"Alright," Beca sighed. "So I was out hunting last night after we all were at the pool, and - I dunno, Aubrey just sort of tumbled down right in front of me. I heard you howling so I brought her back here. She locked me out." She paused and let out a tired sigh, rubbing her similarly bloody hands over her face. "God, Chlo, she looked so _afraid_."

Chloe groaned along with the discomfort that erupted in her belly. This was just about what she'd always feared. "I - I didn't hurt her, did I?" she asked in a small, weak voice.

Beca shook her head. "No. She just had a few cuts on her face, probably from running through all the trees. She's fine."

"Well obviously not," Chloe snapped. "So she came across you feeding on a deer?" Beca nodded sadly. "I can get why she would have been freaked out by that... Do you know if she actually _saw_ me turn, though?"

"I'm not sure," Beca huffed. "I can assume so, since she was running from the direction all your howling was coming from."

Scowling, Chloe paced around in a tight circle before slumping down on the couch. "How did you figure it out?" she whispered. Beca frowned and she elaborated, "How did you know I'm a... a werewolf? I didn't think - well, I suppose since you're a vampire you must know a decent bit about my kind, even if I don't know a lot about yours."

"I was wondering why that was," Beca murmured. "I thought you would know exactly what I am once you ruled out the werewolf option. I only knew about you because I was out with Aubrey the same night you turned, and I put two and two together. I didn't think it was actually a bunch of guys pretending - it sounded too real. I _have_ been around for quite awhile, after all, and my sire taught me a handful of things. Other than that I did my own research."

Chloe gingerly bit her lower lip. "I... I'm not sure why you being a vampire wasn't the first thing I thought of when you didn't respond to our universal code. It just didn't seem _right_ , almost." She patted the spot next to her and Beca sat down. "My mama is a werewolf, and so is one of my brothers, but the rest of my family isn't. None of them are necessarily adverse to knowing about our history and things like that, but my mama tends to omit some things to keep everyone in a comfortable place. Which is why she didn't tell me much about vampires, except to say we're currently in a time of peace with them because of a treaty. She didn't teach me how to sniff one out or anything, and - truthfully - I didn't think I'd ever come across one."

Beca smiled, but it was mostly bitter and didn't reach her eyes. "And then I came along."

"It's not bad that you're a vampire, Becs," Chloe said softly. " _I_ don't mind." Even if it probably kind of messed up her feelings of having potential mates of both her and Aubrey, Chloe meant what she said. She would deal with the rest of it later.

The look in Beca's steel blue eyes suggested she might be thinking something similar, and although that certainly intrigued Chloe, she didn't get the chance to say anything about it. "We should probably check in on Aubrey," the brunette half-growled, swiftly getting back to her feet. "I think she's awake. I can practically hear her heart racing from here."

Chloe nodded and they went back to standing in front of Aubrey's door; she knocked gently, pressing her cheek to the wood. "Bree? Will you come out? We'd like to talk to you."

No response - Chloe's sharp hearing only picked up the rustling of sheets.

"Aubrey, please," Beca tried. "It's just us."

For a few more moments - long enough for them to contemplate giving up - there was silence. Then they heard the sound of something heavy scraping across the floor and the door opened a crack. Aubrey gazed out at them, her one visible pale green eye watching them with fearful caution and confused uncertainty. She wrapped a hand around the doorframe and shuffled. Chloe could very clearly hear her ragged breathing.

"What?" she whispered.

Chloe and Beca exchanged a scared glance. What if she didn't accept them for what they were? Taking a deep breath, Chloe said, "Can we talk to you? Out here?"

Aubrey just stared at her for a moment, but opened the door the rest of the way nonetheless. Her face was painted by a few scratches, just like Beca said, and she was trembling an awful lot as her eyes darted between the two of them. She shut her door behind her and leaned against it, almost as if to signal she wasn't going anywhere else. Chloe bit her lip against a sigh. She felt incredibly disappointed with herself - she _knew_ better than to turn in front of someone. It was dangerous, because she wasn't entirely there when it happened, and she very well could have hurt Aubrey. The thought made her sick.

"So, uh, obviously you saw some pretty crazy stuff last night," Beca said, voice wavering with uncertainty. There was genuine shame, worry and fear in her eyes. "We're here to answer any questions you may have, or to explain things."

"You two are-" Aubrey began, but cut herself off. Her breathing was gradually becoming a lot more erratic.

"Please, Bree, just calm down," Chloe said softly. "We're not going to _hurt_ you."

"Never," Beca agreed, shaking her head. "We'd never hurt you, Aubrey."

Aubrey let out a panicked sounding laugh. "This is just - what the _hell_? Chloe, I _thought_ there was something you just weren't telling me - and I've thought that ever since _meeting_ you - but this? This is probably the last thing I expected. I mean, come on, a _werewolf_? And a _vampire_? How does that even exist? I'm so just - confused..." She took in a shuddering breath and wiped frantically at her cheeks; fresh tears were streaming down the previously dried tracks already there. Chloe and Beca just watched as she slid down the door and sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and hiding her face.

"We can maybe fix that confusion," Chloe offered, hesitating before kneeling down in front of the blonde, Beca following suit. "What are you confused about?"

"Chloe," Aubrey snapped, looking back up, "you _turned into a wolf_ right in front of me!" There was a fire to her eyes, making the color stand out more. She continued to glance between the two of them. "And Beca, you were just drinking a deer's blood in your - I don't know, your vampire form? How are either of you at all surprised about how _freaked out_ I am?!"

"We're not," Beca said. "We understand _completely_ why you're so scared."

"And I'm so sorry that I didn't just get you away from me before I turned," Chloe added on a shaky exhale. "I know better than that, but I endangered you anyway."

Aubrey's expression softened a fraction. "No, it - it was my fault, too. I wasn't listening to you when you told me to come back to the dorm. I was just frustrated because this happens _every month_ , and of course until you... turned... I had no idea why that was. I wanted answers."

"And we can give you those right now," Chloe said, smiling. It seemed to help in further relaxing the blonde. She moved so she was in a more comfortable position with her back to the opposite wall; Beca again mimicked her actions. "What would you like to know? I can't speak for Beca when I say this, but I'm totally open to answering anything."

"So am I," Beca said.

Aubrey released a breath. "I... I'm not even sure what I want to know right now."

"That's okay," Chloe said. "We can wait if-"

"When were you going to tell me?" Aubrey interrupted, coaxing a surprised snort of laughter from Beca. "I mean, I can understand why _Beca_ wouldn't say anything - we haven't known each other for very long. But Chloe, we've known each other for _years_."

Chloe squirmed a little. "This isn't just a minor secret, Aubrey. I kept it from you for your safety, because there's no telling what will happen when I turn. There's only so much control I can manage. Which is different from Beca - she doesn't just become an animal, she already kinda is. But that's just my understanding of vampires."

"Well, no, that's right," Beca chuckled, shooting her a light smirk. "As a creature, I'm no longer human. Chloe is still _half_ human, and that makes things more difficult."

Aubrey nodded slowly, her eyes a little unfocused. "You make it seem like you don't actually know a lot about vampires," she said, directing the statement to Chloe, "but Beca seems to understand things about _you_ \- or I guess werewolves in general."

"I didn't think I'd ever meet a vampire," Chloe admitted. "I was born into a generation that didn't really need to worry about constant feuds; there's a sort of peace treaty between us now, so we don't have to deal with territory disputes and what not. My mama didn't tell me about anything I might need to know because she didn't think I would find a chance to apply any of that information." She shrugged lightly and glanced away. It was odd to think that she now _did_ know a vampire, and it frightened her some to think that she was probably going to have to tell her mama about it. She'd already mentioned Beca as a possible mate - there was no way Mrs. Beale was just going to let that slide away.

"I, uh, actually told my sire about you," Beca muttered suddenly. Chloe snapped her head around to meet those alluring, darker eyes; the brunette smirked sheepishly.

"Really?" Chloe squeaked.

Beca nodded, momentarily pursing her lips. "Yeah... I didn't know who else to turn to, and I'd already tried talking to my friend Jesse about it. Don't worry though, I didn't use your name or anything when I was talking to him," she said. "He knows about me, but I wouldn't just spill your secret like that."

"Thank you," Chloe half-laughed. "I'll have to meet this friend of yours sometime."

Her statement seemed to be reflected in Aubrey's eyes with a tiny bit of something a _lot_ like jealousy - but Chloe understood why she might feel like that. Beca let out another dark chuckle. "Sure," she said. "But, I mean... my sire wasn't always such a political vampire. It was the treaty with werewolves that got her more interested in trying to make a difference; she doesn't think we should have so many conflicts. I'll spare you most of her opinions, but my point is, Chloe... I don't mind you're a werewolf."

Elation flooded Chloe's system and she was actually able to completely forget just how exhausted she was. She grinned at Beca. "Thank you," she repeated softly. "And Becs, I don't mind that you're a vampire."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aubrey shift a tiny bit, and suddenly all that happiness came crashing down, leaving her a little winded. The question of whether or not Aubrey would accept both - or either - of them was back to the forefront of her mind. She glanced to the blonde wearily, and when she did so Beca also seemed to remember Aubrey's presence. They both sort of just sat there gazing at Aubrey with a deep-seated concern and fear of rejection; if Chloe thought Beca being a vampire complicated the whole potential mates situation, then Aubrey not wanting to have anything to do with either of them really just took the cake. She almost subconsciously reached out to hold Beca's hand tightly in her own, but recognized the urge and repressed it instead.

Aubrey stared back at them in confusion for a moment longer, then her mouth opened briefly in a silent "o" shape. "I hope neither of you think I'm going to want nothing to do with you two after this," she half-muttered. "I'm certainly going to need some time just to digest this, but... I would never want to... to _lose_ either of you." Her face lit up in an awfully red blush and she glanced away, looking a little embarrassed.

Chloe and Beca let out a heavy breath of relief at the same time. "Thank the aca-gods for that," Chloe giggled, causing Aubrey to grin. Beca just shot them both a bemused look. "I'd also just like to say again how sorry I am for being so reckless and inconsiderate last night. I shouldn't have allowed you to be there when I turned. I'm sorry, Aubrey," Chloe added softly.

"And I'm sorry you had to see me feeding," Beca sighed. She gazed down at her bloodied self and smiled a bit awkwardly. "And that I didn't clean myself up."

Aubrey shook her head slightly, paling ever so noticeably. "It's... alright. I... I'll be right back, though." She got to her feet perhaps too quickly, swayed for a second, and dashed into the bathroom. The door didn't even shut all the way before the sound of vomiting (mostly dry heaving) reached Chloe's ears. She grimaced slightly and exchanged a glance with Beca; the brunette mirrored the expression, her own mixed more with guilt. They got up and went to hover at the half-closed door with a bit of uncertainty.

"Do you need us to get you anything?" Chloe called, rapping her knuckles gently on the doorframe. As she spoke she remembered just how devastatingly thirsty _she_ was and licked her lips subconsciously.

"Please just give me a moment," Aubrey called back weakly.

Chloe scowled - she didn't particularly want to leave the blonde alone at a time like this - but she allowed Beca to drag her back into the living room nonetheless. She knew it would be better if she gave Aubrey space; overloading her with something like this might just make her implode. Chloe went into the kitchen and got three glasses of water filled, handing one to Beca and placing one on the coffee table for Aubrey when she joined them. They sat on the couch in relative silence for a decent while. In the meantime Chloe could still hear dry heaving coming from the bathroom, and some small whimpering noises that broke her heart a little.

"Do you have the feeling that something's gonna go wrong?" Beca said suddenly. Her eyes were a little silver when Chloe turned and met her gaze. She seemed on edge, which wasn't necessarily like her, and in fact was a bit worrying.

"How do you mean?" Chloe asked.

Beca shrugged halfheartedly. "I just mean... something certainly feels kinda... _off_."

"I'm not sure," Chloe said slowly, "but I don't think we have anything to worry about." For a second they just stared each other in the eyes. It was an unrelenting, almost suffocating moment for Chloe, and she had to suck in a deep breath the second Beca glanced away. "Is... are you worried about Aubrey?" she asked.

"In what way?" Beca snorted. "I just don't want her to change her mind about us."

"Becs, she would never go back on her word," Chloe hummed, taking the brunette's smaller, paler hand in her own. "She just needs time to tackle this logically and she'll be fine. At least, I hope she will."

The look Beca gave her dashed that hope, but she didn't say anything about it. Beca just sighed heavily and slouched back into the couch. They continued to wait for Aubrey to come back out, and when she did she looked pale and a little green. She kneeled down on the floor and leaned over so her forehead was touching her knees. Chloe and Beca exchanged another glance. Obviously, neither of them knew how to help Aubrey through this any quicker or easier. Then Aubrey shot up into a straightened position with a sharp exhale, and though her eyes seemed faraway she smiled at them calmly.

"I feel a bit better now," she said, reaching for the glass of water on the table.

Beca nodded slowly. "That's good..."

"If you need time to be alone, Aubrey, we can give that to you," Chloe said. "Neither of us want to overwhelm you with any of this."

Aubrey's smile twitched up a small fraction and she set the glass back down, clearing her throat in a daintily, poised manner. "I would appreciate that, yes, but I do still have some questions for the two of you. If you don't mind."

"No, yeah, go ahead," Beca said.

Chloe recognized this part of Aubrey, but Beca had yet to see it until now and didn't know any better. This Aubrey was the all business Aubrey - or, rather, lawyer Aubrey. The blonde used this part of herself to get information she wanted in a very professional way, so as to not confuse manners of the heart. Currently, Aubrey was trying valiantly to only use her mind to process any information Chloe and Beca gave her. This aspect of her didn't bother Chloe, but she would be lying if she didn't admit that it made her feel like she was being interrogated - like she was on the stand in a trial, and she was definitely guilty. But at least that meant there was really no doubt Aubrey would become an outstanding lawyer after school.

"Chloe," she began, tone just a _tiny_ bit sharper than usual, but Chloe still hardly even noticed it, "does it... hurt you? When you turn?"

"Well... a little bit," Chloe admitted. "My body sort of stretches itself out in some places, and a turning as well as everything I do in that form is absolutely exhausting. I'm really sore right now and feel almost like I could fall asleep at any second." She laughed lightly, hoping that if she kept things as light as they could be Aubrey wouldn't have any cause to freak out more.

Aubrey frowned a bit. "The day of the full moon you always seem really sore and sickly... why is that?" she asked gently.

"For the most part my body is just preparing itself," Chloe explained. "Side effects of a turning don't always necessarily have much of a purpose... they can be different for everyone, and sometimes just depend on the month."

"And you don't have any control over changing your form?"

Chloe smirked bitterly. "No. However, I can sometimes be in control of _myself_ whenever I change and it isn't actually the full moon. There are a few instances wherein our instincts will tell us to change - like if someone we love is being threatened, or if we're about to engage in a fight we think our human half couldn't win. It's a bit about preservation of the self and others."

Aubrey nodded along, her eyes alight with fascination. "Beca," she said then, angling her body towards the brunette, "do _you_ have control over your form?"

"Vampires have adapted a lot to be able to fit in really well," Beca began with a slight sigh, crossing one leg over the other. "We _much_ rather feeding on humans, after all, and it's just easier to hunt them when they think you're one of them. That has kinda died out a little because we're all afraid of being caught, and it isn't always worth it to try to stalk down the perfect victim." For a moment she paused and glanced down at her hands in her lap, expression mostly unreadable. Chloe swore she saw something a lot like self-loathing pass across those pale features, but the look was gone before she could be sure. "Since we've adapted, we can really _look_ human - even though we aren't one at all. I choose when and where I turn into my true form, and I always have complete control, unless something's gone wrong."

Some concern flashed through Aubrey's eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

Beca shrugged and looked back up. "If we're starved it's harder to control our instincts, and we bite at anything near. We disregard the impulse to stay hidden because there isn't really much we can do in our human form. Fortunately that doesn't happen very often anymore."

"I recall my mama telling me about some vampire famine crises," Chloe hummed.

"Yeah, they've been really bad before. I won't get into any of that, though," Beca said.

The corners of Aubrey's lips turned down into a pout, and Chloe honestly couldn't help the fond smile that formed on her own features. Aubrey was sometimes just too cute for her own good. "My next question is maybe... not very, ah... sensitive?" she said, voice becoming a bit high-pitched by the end. Beca just arched an eyebrow to signal for her to continue and she cleared her throat. "How _old_ are you?"

Beca laughed, an actual, hearty laugh - not just her usual chuckle. The sound caught Chloe by surprise, and Aubrey as well, by the looks of it. They both watched as Beca simmered down some and dissolved into that chuckle. "I was waiting for that one," she laughed. "Don't worry, I don't mind that you're asking. I'm not _super_ old, just a couple hundred years."

"A couple _hundred_?" Chloe practically squeaked (and much to Beca's amusement). "Becs, you gotta understand that that's pretty crazy for us to hear."

"Sure," Beca guffawed, smirking. "But, you know, it's even crazier for me. I've seen multiple parts of the world become what they are today. I was born in 1646, in England, and came over to be part of the European colonies in North America in 1666, when I was twenty. We were rocked by famine and disease, but look at everything _now_."

Chloe shifted a little so she was also facing Beca more. "How were you turned?" she asked quietly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aubrey move closer.

Beca frowned and she didn't look very happy about the question; she stared back and forth between them for a few good moments before she let out a heavy sigh, an irritated growl mixed in, and rolled her eyes. "Well, we were all _starving_. One day I thought I would venture out and try my hand at scavenging, but I was weak and it was cold. I must have fainted from exhaustion, and when I came to my sire - a French woman named Nadine - was hovering over me. She said she felt pity for me and didn't want to see me die so young. She gave me the choice to live _forever_ , or she would kill me right then and there - she needed to feed as well. I..." She paused, nose scrunching up into an adorably sort of confused expression. Her eyes, swirling with a hint of silver, flicked up to the ceiling. For a moment longer she was silent; neither Chloe nor Aubrey prodded her to continue until she was ready. "I'm not sure why I chose to live forever. I think I had a fever by that point, because of the cold and the fact that I wasn't, like, at all used to any diseases from North America. I thought I was going to die anyway, and Nadine was just a hallucinated guardian angel or something.

"But obviously I was wrong. The specifics of her turning me are a bit hazy in my mind... I remember her changing into her vampire form, and biting me, and it _hurt_ \- but then I must have passed out again. I woke up in her home, in a different colony where the French had settled. We can't be apart for long, so I couldn't go back to my English colony. That didn't really bother me, though. We stayed in North America for a long time, but left during the American Revolution and stayed in France until a lot of the conflict had died down and we were once again allowed to go back. That was after the Civil War, I think."

Both Chloe and Aubrey were silent for a few moments after she stopped speaking; Chloe knew Aubrey, like herself, was just trying to digest the information and come to terms with the idea of Beca being 350 years old.

"Wow," Chloe breathed. "You could help me with so many of my history papers..."

Beca laughed heartily again. "I dunno, my knowledge of American history is spotty at times. Nadine and I traveled back and forth from here to France often." She paused once more and developed a fond, slightly distracted expression. "When Nadine found me she was totally disconnected with others of our kind. I didn't really know any other vampires for a fairly long time after I was turned."

"That sounds kind of lonely," Aubrey murmured.

"I suppose. But it wasn't like we were never around other people - just not vampires."

Aubrey just sort of stared at her awhile longer, brows furrowed in a thoughtful way as her gaze gradually fell to look at the coffee table instead. She shifted into a different position and was silent. After a moment she looked up at Chloe, smiled, and asked, "Were you born a werewolf, or were you turned as well?"

"For the most part being a werewolf _is_ genetic," Chloe began, reaching for her glass to drink a little water before she continued. "Obviously my mama is a werewolf, but my dad isn't, which is why two of my siblings aren't."

"Which ones aren't?" Aubrey asked wearily.

The blonde had met Chloe's mother and oldest brother before, one time when they were visiting the campus in her first year. Though the interaction was short (and probably affirmed any beliefs Aubrey might have had about the whole Beale family being just as physically affectionate as Chloe was) it had really seemed like Aubrey hit it off with her mama; learning the woman was a werewolf was probably a similar blow to learning _Chloe_ was one. "My oldest brother and my sister aren't," Chloe replied, swallowing a tired sigh. "It's common though that people who aren't born a werewolf are given the choice of being turned by someone in their family once they turn eighteen. My brother declined, but I'm not sure what my sister is going to do, and that's coming up soon..."

"Oh," Aubrey said. "So you... didn't even have a choice?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, but there isn't anything I can do about that now. It's not _all_ bad, Bree," she added when Aubrey's whole being practically deflated into sadness and something quite a bit like despair. "Sure, turning kinda hurts and it's an aca-pain in the ass to deal with every month, but I like to think it also helps me keep the people I care about _safe_. I don't mind being an animal as long as I can still do that."

Aubrey smiled sadly, and when Chloe glanced swiftly at Beca she saw what looked a lot like pride swimming in those intense eyes. They sat in a comfortable silence for a good minute or two, then Beca stood up and awkwardly shifted her weight before speaking.

"I should go clean myself up," she half-laughed. "Unless you have any more questions?"

"No, that's alright," Aubrey sighed. "If I think of more I'm sure I can always ask you later. Go ahead and use our bathroom." Beca nodded in thanks and walked away.

Chloe watched her go, but the sound of Aubrey shifting closer caught her attention and she looked down as the blonde edged towards her. After a brief second of hesitation she even rested her head and arms on Chloe's lap, heaving an exhausted sigh. Chloe just smiled fondly and placed a hand on her shoulder, not quite daring to do much else in case Aubrey was still a little frightened. "Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked softly.

Aubrey shook her head and groaned. "Maybe for a _minute_... I don't want to be rude, but I might need to go to bed for a few hours."

"Oh, no, you should totes get some sleep," Chloe giggled. "I should too - I really tired myself out last night, somehow. Besides, we need to be sharp for Bellas rehearsal. We have a lot of work to do, and although Beca will probably be mostly in charge, you're _still_ the captain, Bree. We're counting on you to lead us through this."

Aubrey let out a soft laugh, lifting her head up to look Chloe in the eye. "Will you tell Beca I've gone to bed? And... tell her thank you, for answering all my questions."

"Of course."

"Thank _you_ , Chloe. I appreciate the way you handled this. And I promise - to both of you - that your secrets are safe with me." Aubrey stared at her, and it seemed almost like she was trying to impart something through the fierce gaze. Chloe wasn't sure what it meant so she just smiled it away. Aubrey got to her feet and left for her room before she could say anything in response; Chloe remained sitting there for awhile longer, taking a few deep breaths to calm her reinvigorated, raging nerves.

Once she let Beca out she was going to have to call her mama and put some of these thoughts to rest, if she wanted any chances of getting some sleep.

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry for taking so long with the next update, life just made me too busy to get this out quickly. I hope you like it, though! I know some people might have been expecting a little angst in Aubrey's response to what happened, and that didn't really happen, but trust me - angst is coming._


	11. Chapter XI

**\+ XI +**

"So you guys think you're ready for finals?"

Beca brushed some hair out of her eyes and glanced up from her textbook to look at Jesse. They were sitting together in the shade outside, "studying" since neither of them had anything better to do. For the most part Beca was practically falling asleep reading - whatever it was she was reading, biology maybe, who knew at this point - while Jesse was focused on a game he was playing on his phone. Neither of them had spoken much for the past half hour.

"I mean, sure," she said to answer his question, shrugging and snapping her book shut. "What about the Trebles? I bet you think you'll be able to beat us again this year, huh?"

Jesse rolled his eyes playfully, pushing himself up from his stomach and leaning back on his ankles. "At this point, who knows what's going to happen. Bumper has hardly been present in rehearsal, and he's basically the glue holding us together - well, no. He's like a cat... that keeps knocking around some, like, yarn ball toy..."

"You lost me there," Beca chuckled.

"Well, I've never been good with analogies. That's why I suck in English class." Jesse suddenly looked past her, and Beca turned over her shoulder to see what had grabbed his attention so blatantly. She caught sight of Aubrey and Chloe walking and talking together on the other side of the lawn where she and Jesse were sitting. Turning back to Jesse, her dead heart trembled a little at the sight of his mischievous expression.

"I know what you're thinking-"

"Hey, Aubrey and Chloe!" Jesse interrupted her, cupping his hands around his mouth so his shout traveled even further, and if Beca could still blush that was absolutely what she would be doing right now. Shaking her head to herself, she refused to look and see if he'd actually gotten their attention; she didn't have to wonder for very long. Before she even really knew what was happening Chloe was sitting close beside her, and Aubrey was slowly sitting down as well, placing her bag down and looking a little uncertain for reasons Beca couldn't decipher.

Chloe, of course, was just beaming. "Hello!" she chirped, nudging Beca's knee with her own. "Are you Beca's friend?" She put an interesting stress on the word "friend" and waggled her eyebrows, shooting the brunette a look. Beca knew what she was asking.

"Yeah, I am," Jesse said, matching her grin (he didn't know, but he would soon). "I'm Jesse. It's nice to formally meet you both - Becs talks about you two a _lot_."

Beca bit her tongue against asking him to shut up.

"Nice to meet you too," Aubrey said softly. "You're a Treble, aren't you?"

Was that maybe where her uncertainty was coming from? Beca hoped so, even if she knew deep down it probably had more to do with the big secrets she and Chloe had dumped on her two days ago. They hadn't talked about it anymore after the fact, but Aubrey wasn't treating either of them any differently, although it seemed a bit like she was ignoring the whole vampire and werewolf thing. Beca wished she was sitting closer to Aubrey, if only to offer her _some_ sort of comfort - shooting her multiple rapid glances wasn't really enough.

Jesse chuckled. "I am indeed a Treble. Beca told me about the little oath she had to take upon becoming a Bella, so don't worry, there's nothing like that going on between us."

Aubrey smiled, but it wasn't necessarily entirely genuine and her eyes flashed with something Beca thought was a lot like jealousy. She looked to Chloe; the redhead must have noticed it too, if her amused yet curious expression was anything to go off of. "That's alright. I don't really need to know about that, but I'm happy you two aren't - I mean, I'm glad Beca didn't break that oath," she said, flushing intensely. Chloe grinned wolfishly (which was admittedly hilarious, to Beca, and she snorted in laughter at her stupid little joke, and Audrey shot her a wholly unappreciative look).

"But you are still a special friend, right?" Chloe asked abruptly, head turning towards Jesse in a way that made her wavy red hair swish. "Like..." she raised an eyebrow at Beca, "a good friend who knows a lot about Beca?"

Beca smirked, mostly because of how confused Jesse looked and how appalled Aubrey seemed by the phrasing Chloe was using. "If you're trying to ask if he knows about the whole vampire thing, then yeah, he is that kind of friend," Beca whispered.

"Oh," Jesse laughed, grin returning, and the single syllable was hardly out of his mouth before Chloe was suddenly crouching _very_ close to him. Her nose was twitching a little and her eyes were alight with an intensity that was almost threatening - it definitely was so to Jesse, though, and he recoiled a little with a nervous peal of laughter. She was just _staring_ at him, unblinkingly, and Beca couldn't figure out what that look in her eyes really meant. It wasn't jealousy, like with Aubrey (even more so now, honestly); it was calculating and _warning_.

Then Chloe nodded to herself and sat back more comfortably. "Do you think I could bribe you into telling me what the Trebles have planned for finals so I can sabotage you?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"Sorry, but I can't be bought," Jesse chuckled. He looked briefly to Beca, excitement painted very obviously across his face. "But, hey, are you also a special friend?"

"Can we stop using the term 'special friend'?" Aubrey snapped shrilly.

"I am," Chloe hummed, ignoring the blonde and wiggling a little in a way very reminiscent of a dog wagging its tail - Beca snorted to herself again. "She was just telling Aubrey and I the other day about you a little bit. You seem like a pretty good guy, too. Oh, are you to blame for getting Beca into college? Because if you are, _thank you_! I don't know what I would be doing if she hadn't showed up here at Barden - I bet Aubrey feels the same."

Aubrey flushed again and very briefly narrowed her eyes. Then she glanced down at her hands in her lap, suddenly turning a little shy, and Beca couldn't even help admitting how _cute_ it was. She seemed a little sad, though. Beca fidgeted in hesitance before moving to sit closer to her, not quite daring to touch her still.

"Wait a second," Jesse drawled teasingly. "You _told_ them!"

"Did I not tell you that I told them?" Beca said, though she was pretty sure she had.

He groaned and threw his head back dramatically, and Chloe laughed. "Geez, Becs, and I thought we were special friends!"

"Oh my god..." Aubrey muttered.

"A lot has been going on. Finals is super close and then who knows what's gonna happen? I mean, a cappella is unfortunately my life now. I can't imagine what the hell I'm going to do when I don't have to worry about rehearsing constantly," Beca said with hints of sarcasm in her tone, shooting Chloe a grin the redhead eagerly and quickly matched. At least nothing between the two of _them_ had really changed.

Jesse shook his head and made a tsking sound. "Beca, Beca, Beca," he sighed. "350 years old and a total dork for a cappella."

"Dude!"

He practically cackled at her expense; Chloe leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered, pointedly loud, "I like him."

"What is happening," Aubrey huffed - a statement, not a question - but she actually seemed a bit more relaxed now. Perhaps talking about more normal things while simultaneously bringing up Beca and Chloe's states of being were helping her to become more comfortable with it. Beca just hoped they would be able to open up another dialogue about it; Aubrey had seemed really dodgy ever since she found out, which was understandable, especially considering _how_ she found out. Beca got a sick feeling thinking about it. If there was one way to really damage a "coming out" in that sense, it was being seen in a true form. She could tell Chloe felt similarly; they occasionally exchanged knowing, sympathetic glances during rehearsals or whenever else they were all around each other. The redhead _had_ mentioned (probably more than once now) that Aubrey just needed to think through it all in a very rational way before she could really start to come around to it. And then she would be the most supportive friend Beca had ever had the pleasure of having (Chloe's words, not hers).

Beca hadn't told her that she wanted Aubrey - _and_ Chloe - to be more than her friends.

She noticed Jesse was looking at her knowingly and a bit sadly, like he was reading her mind and knew exactly how she was struggling. He quickly perked back up and said, "Hey, there's supposed to be a party at one of those sororities or fraternities, I don't really remember which, but would you lovely ladies be interested in attending it with me?"

"What, you mean carpool?" Beca scoffed.

"I would be down for a party," Chloe said, lighting up. "It would be nice to kind of just chill and not have to think about finals for a little while. Do you think we could invite the rest of the Bellas? We could all use some fun."

Jesse shrugged. "Yeah, for sure. I was gonna invite the rest of the Trebles."

Aubrey made a slight noise of distaste, and Chloe instantly rolled her eyes in response. "Bree, come on. You know I'm right," she practically cooed.

Beca just watched the two of them closely, not even focusing on the outcome of whether or not the Bellas would be attending this party. She didn't care about parties. She'd been to many, and they sort of lost their appeal after awhile - most of them were all the same. Although that wasn't to say she didn't enjoy them when there was good music.

Point being, she could care less if the Bellas got a break from rehearsing. It sounded bad to say it like that, but she was more interested in spending more time with Chloe and Aubrey now that they all knew such intimate secrets about each other. Any time she could get, really. After being a little estranged from them after nationals, and then all the work they had to put into getting their finals set ready, she _missed_ them. The thought nearly drew a sigh from her throat. What she wouldn't give at this point to just figure out their relationship dynamic. It wouldn't matter if she wanted them both as mates if not _all_ of them wanted that as well - dismissing everything about the troubles between werewolves and vampires mating.

"Alright, Beca, you're the tie-breaker," Chloe said, jarring Beca from her slowly spiraling torrent of thoughts. "Should we go to this party or not?"

Beca shrugged. "Why not?"

* * *

A good reason, Beca thought in hindsight, why they shouldn't have come to this party was, perhaps, the simple fact that there were _way_ too many people already attending. The addition of both the Bellas and the Trebles made it practically jam-packed; if Beca needed to breathe (she really only did for show) she would be screwed. So she had no _idea_ how the hell Chloe and Aubrey were managing.

Another reason: the music was too loud, and it wasn't even _good_. Honestly, nobody had figured out how to throw a legitimately decent party in _centuries_ \- in Beca's opinion. There was something to be said about the relatively simple, more elite parties that were happening in the 20's, and then with raves really kicking up in the 80's and 90's, she had figured things would kind of find a nice resting place in between the two. Boy, was she wrong. About most things - but trying to predict where history might go was definitely her weakest subject.

Beca also didn't have the easiest time socializing with _giant_ groups of people, not to mention when people were dancing and getting their heart rates up, it was a major distraction. Parties with her own kind were just easiest for her to deal with, even if they were sometimes incredibly boring. Still, she could deal with this - too many people, bad, loud music, her inability to be more or less social, and the roaring sounds of everyone's pulses _right_ in her ears. It was the _type_ of people she was suddenly being forced to be around that was making her regret the choice to be so apathetic about whether or not they came to this thing.

She had always been happy to avoid sororities and fraternities. Having not attended college till now, she only had to hear about the crazy things people got up to. When she and Nadine decided to stay mostly in the US, everything about college parties had been a decent factor in her argument to her sire that she didn't _need_ to go to college.

She'd been to some, and they weren't all that bad. Some really did get it right.

But this one - no, this one did not get it right.

She could literally _smell_ the alcohol in people's _blood_ when she walked past them, regardless of whether or not they had a cup in their hands - and most did either way. It made the overall smell of blood stronger, something that didn't really happen unless someone had an open wound. So if she thought she had been distracted before...

"You seem to be enjoying this as little as I am."

Beca blinked a few times, rousing herself from her thoughts and turning to see Aubrey standing beside her. She hadn't even heard the blonde approach. "Oh - yeah, I mean, it isn't necessarily _bad_ ," she said, raising her voice to be heard over the music. "But I would probably leave sooner rather than later."

Aubrey quirked an eyebrow and sipped at her drink. "To me, that means it's bad."

"I just might be too distracted to have a good time," Beca said.

Confusion and a little something else flashed through Aubrey's eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by another body crashing into hers. She lurched to the side and into Beca - who happily and easily caught her - and the two of them glared at this rude person, though they both softened a little upon realizing it was Fat Amy. The Australian girl smiled at them sheepishly and handed Aubrey a new drink, since most of hers had been spilled (on Beca) when she fell.

"Sorry 'bout that," Amy shouted. "It's kind of a real mess in here, isn't it?"

"You can say that again," Beca scoffed, but she was mostly focusing on the feeling of Aubrey pressed so close to her own body - the blonde wasn't bothering to move away. That, and the strong smell of Amy's blood was starting to make Beca to shake with hunger.

"Still more interesting than just the Bellas chilling in someone's dorm," Amy went on. A young man walked past them then and her gaze trailed after him. "For example, there are way more dingoes in the game than peacocks, if ya know what I mean," she added, winking at them before moving to follow the guy. Beca watched after her, a chuckle bubbling up her throat. Against her body she felt Aubrey suddenly tremble.

"You know, I don't think anyone really knows what she means," she said, glancing up at the blonde, in part to make sure she was still okay.

Aubrey nodded, flushing lightly. The sight of it made Beca's skin tingle - she needed to be careful, or else she was afraid she might make some sort of mistake. "That's just Amy being Amy," the blonde huffed. "Have you seen Chloe at all? I lost track of her almost the second we got here. I know she can take care of herself, but..." Aubrey trailed off, glancing around them for any signs of the redhead. One would think she would be easy to find because of her vibrant hair and even brighter eyes, but Beca didn't think they would find her so quickly. Not only was the mass of people so dense, lighting was practically nonexistent. Whatever pretty light thing or annoying strobe lights they had going didn't make much to actually see by.

"I'll help you look for her," Beca murmured. She found Aubrey's hand and gripped it tightly with her own, beginning to pull them through the crowd. It was slow going, but neither of them were very intent on being separated. Aubrey kept so close to Beca's back the brunette could feel her entire front pressed against her; a roaring sound started in her head and she knew she needed a break. Immediately.

She quickly segued away from the kitchen, where they'd been heading, and made a beeline for the back door of the house. Her keen ears picked up Aubrey's small noise of protest and confusion - but then they were outside, and there were _way_ less people out on the porch, and Beca let out a heavy breath she didn't need in relief. This was starting to get too close for comfort, and she knew she couldn't stay here long. It was mostly her fault - she hadn't gone hunting since the night Aubrey stumbled across her feeding, so she was practically starved. She dropped Aubrey's hand and sort of stumbled off the porch, onto the unkempt lawn.

"Beca? What's wrong? You don't... look too good," Aubrey called after her softly. Beca heard footsteps follow her to the middle of the lawn as she laid down on her back, throwing her arms over her eyes and trying to ignore the slight aching of her empty stomach. She felt Aubrey lie down beside her. "Beca?" she repeated in a small whisper.

"I'm just really hungry," Beca half-laughed, but she was aware of how close it sounded to a sob. "You have no idea how hard it was for me to focus in there. Everyone's blood smells super strong because of all the alcohol, and I haven't eaten the past few days-"

"What?" Aubrey interrupted incredulously. "Beca, you can't just - I mean, I don't know exactly how that _works_ for you, but you can't just _not eat_ for a few days!"

Beca opened her eyes and turned her head, flinching a tiny bit in surprise at how close she and Aubrey apparently were. She was perhaps inches away from Aubrey's pale green eyes, and if she even leaned forward a _tiny_ bit their noses would touch. "Uh," she stammered, "well, I don't _have_ to eat every day, and I can usually last maybe three days without having anything to eat. After that it can get a bit dangerous - but I never let it get to that point. Even if I don't go out hunting, I make sure I eat."

"Then what was different about the past few days?" Aubrey asked, frowning.

"For starters, you came across me eating, and I know how much that freaked you out." Beca looked away, not sure if she could handle looking Aubrey in the eye right now. She was used to the way people's eyes changed when she talked about these kinds of things; the first time Jesse saw her soon after a feeding, he'd vomited from the sight of all the blood on her clothes and face. "And - I dunno, I guess I've just been too anxious to really think about eating until now. It was a mistake, I know."

There was a pregnant pause, and had Beca not been so hyper-aware of the presence beside her and Aubrey's relatively calm heartbeat she would have thought the blonde had left. "I don't care what you... _do_ , so long as you're taking care of yourself," Aubrey murmured. "If you had something to eat, would you feel more comfortable inside?"

Beca shrugged as well as she could while lying down. "Maybe. I'd at least be less distracted." Scowling, she turned again and met pale green eyes. They sort of just stared at each other for a moment while she processed what Aubrey could have meant by saying that. "You're not... what are you saying, Bree?" she half-snapped, unsure if she really understood what the blonde could be getting at. And if she hadn't, then she really didn't want to say such a thing out loud. It didn't seem like something Aubrey would be up for _at all_.

"I'm saying," Aubrey began, visibly swallowing and definitely looking a shade or two paler than usual, "that, if you really needed to, you could... feed off me?"

"Oh, god no," Beca spat. She sat up abruptly, waving her hands apologetically. "No, I mean - I don't mean to sound disgusted, because - I just can't do that, Aubrey." The blonde sat up as well, slowly, and opened her mouth to say something. Beca rambled on before she could get the chance. "You're not some sort of _pet_ , Aubrey. Vampires feed slowly off of humans who are their _pets_ , and allow them time to rejuvenate or whatever between feeding. It's really mostly a sexual act, and humans who are a vampire's pet usually don't live long enough to tell the tale, unless their master also decides to turn them. I'm not going to do any of that to you, Aubrey, especially since you don't really know much about vampires and our culture yet. No offense. I mean, you _have_ only just learned about our existence."

Aubrey frowned and glanced away, averting her attention to picking blades of grass. "No offense taken," she half-sighed. For a moment she chewed on the inside of her cheek and there was silence between them. Beca just hoped she hadn't said something that could have been taken in a rude or mean way, and she was about to apologize when Aubrey spoke up again. "So does that mean that when you feed off a human and they're not a, a pet, that that human will undoubtedly die?" she asked without looking up.

"Yes," Beca practically whispered.

"And you said the other day that vampires can get truly dangerous when they're very hungry, right? How long does that take?"

Beca shook her head a little. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Aubrey."

The blonde's head snapped up and Beca was surprised to see annoyance in her eyes, not anything Beca would have expected. "Afraid of you? Of course not. I'm just making sure you're eating right," she said sternly.

There was a beat of silence, then Beca burst out laughing, although she wasn't sure if it was just laughing and not a little bit of crying as well. "Fuck, Aubrey, I thought - oh, god," she chuckled, shaking her head at herself. Aubrey looked confused as to why she cut herself off, but didn't say anything. Her lips curled up into a pretty, sort of smug smile, and she let out a little laugh as well before lying back down. Beca followed suit and they laid there, side by side; she felt skin brush against her hand resting between them, her other splayed across her stomach. Aubrey took her hand in her own and they just... laid there.

If Beca were a human and still felt as if she needed to sleep at night, she probably would have started to drift off. Instead she just felt _wired_ , and perhaps too excited about the fact that Aubrey was holding her hand and that the blonde didn't seem like she was still a little on edge anymore. The one thing that would make this more perfect was if Chloe was with them.

And as if she'd been summoned, the redhead suddenly popped into Beca's line of sight, hovering above her and Aubrey with a grin. "What are you two doing out here all by yourselves?" Chloe giggled. The smell of alcohol on her was pretty strong, but Beca was pretty sure it took a _lot_ more alcohol than that to really affect a werewolf. Somehow the fact that they were all sober was very reassuring to her.

"Beca needed to get away from all the people," Aubrey answered calmly, letting out a small sigh. The look in her eyes, though, was anything _but_ calm. Beca watched her concernedly, wondering what was making her so anxious. And why was she trying to hide it from Chloe? "We were just out here talking."

Chloe nodded, and she disappeared from their view. Beca picked her head up a little to see her lie down on Aubrey's other side, taking the blonde's hand from her stomach and holding it with her own between them. Just like that, any tension that had been in Aubrey's body the second Chloe appeared vanished like a wave. Pursing her lips, Beca stopped herself from making any sounds of sudden happiness that wanted to rush out her mouth. Maybe she didn't have to worry about the three of them not having any sort of chance after all - still ignoring the whole vampire and werewolf thing for now. Aubrey did always seem especially more at ease whenever Chloe was with them, and Beca realized she felt similarly. It was all just clicking into place, something that surprised her, but also delighted her beyond words. All of them feeling the same ways about one another _would_ make things easier in the long-run...

"Would it be bad if we just ditched this party, even though we were the ones to invite all the Bellas to it?" Chloe spoke up suddenly, voice quiet. Out here they were out of reach of the loud music, and everything was comfortably serene.

Beca sincerely thought this moment was perfect.

"Did you have something better in mind for us to do?" Aubrey giggled.

"We could always-"

"Hey! Hey, Beca! Thought I smelled you, you little brat!"

Beca instantly stiffened. Well, if there was a perfect moment, something or someone always came along to ruin it. She sat up slowly and turned to see who had shouted for her, although she already recognized the voice. Standing on the edge of the lawn was a lean, really quite skinny form. With her heightened ability to see in the dark she could easily see the man's features; he was smirking at her arrogantly, but in her opinion it looked a lot more like a sneer.

He scoffed, rolled his neck, and sauntered closer. "Come on, is that any way to greet _me_? You know better than that - you're _older_ than me!"

Reluctantly, Beca stood, ignoring the way Aubrey and Chloe were watching her closely, both obviously confused. She maintained eye-contact with the young man (not quite young by a human's standards, of course) and bowed to him just slightly.

"That's more like it!" he snickered, crossing the rest of the lawn until he was standing almost right in front of her. He nudged her shoulder. "Haven't seen you in awhile. Nadine said you'd stopped coming to her with parties 'nd such because you decided to go to _school_. I thought that was a pretty funny idea, too, so here I am!" Beca tried hard not to scowl, or really show any emotion on her face; even being the idiot he was, he was also surprisingly perceptive when it came to what other people were feeling. It was just another thing about him that ticked her off - but she couldn't really tell him anything she felt about him.

Unfortunately, he was a prince.

"What are you doing here?" she growled lowly, and shifted a little in hopes that she would be able to hide Aubrey and Chloe from his line of sight before he noticed either of them. All that accomplished was getting him to notice them _quicker_.

"Oooooh," he purred, grinning down at them; he was missing a front tooth or two. "You gonna introduce me to your friends here, Beca?"

"No," Beca snapped.

He looked at her, irritation and arrogance blending together perfectly in his ashy eyes, and tutted. "Now, now, Beca. Is that any way to treat me? Huh? I asked you to introduce me to your friends, and now you have to do what I said."

It took a _lot_ of effort not to roll her eyes, but she somehow managed. By that time both Chloe and Aubrey were on their feet as well; Chloe was standing a bit in front of Aubrey, her eyes bright and showing a clear warning that he could _not_ get any closer. Beca was happy to see the redhead take such an initiative. No matter how much she disliked the prince of her own kind, she _did_ technically have to do as he said. Chloe, on the other hand, did not. "These are my friends, Chloe and Aubrey," Beca snarled, gesturing to each of them in turn, not bothering to hold back on any sarcasm in her tone. "Chloe, Aubrey, this is Ned."

"Hey, how you two doin'?" Ned purred, but his voice just came out gravelly and sort of squeaky, like the teenage boy he really was.

Aubrey looked _deeply_ uncomfortable. "Hi," she said harshly.

"Do you mind maybe backing off?" Chloe snapped. Her lips twitched.

Ned's eyes widened. "You wanna run that by me again, red? You can't speak to me like that. Do you even have any idea who I _am_?"

"They don't care about who you are, and I personally think it would be smart of you to do as she says," Beca retorted. "I _can_ just send a message to Darragh or Hedevi about this. Do you think either of them would really appreciate hearing that you're trying to force your power on other _people_? Because I don't."

His expression instantly soured. Beca squashed down a triumphant smirk; he was just so easy to play, sometimes. He was a bit frightened of both of his sires - the king and queen - and any vampire in their Clan could use them as an excuse to get Ned to be a bit less _annoying_. Beca just hoped that fear would last a long time, because she couldn't imagine trying to deal with him without having some sort of leverage. Really, he would do whatever the hell he wanted if he thought there would be no repercussions, and that was often his defense.

"Whatever," he grunted, turning away. "I'll see you _later_ , Beca," he called over his shoulder as a form of goodbye. Beca watched him until he'd gone back inside the house, letting out a snarl of relief once he disappeared amidst the throng of people.

"What was that kid's _deal_?" Chloe growled. Beca turned to see her frowning in irritation. "I've never seen him around campus before, if he really does go here."

"How do you know him, Beca?" Aubrey asked.

Beca shrugged, shoving her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. She didn't want to have to explain this to them. It was a little embarrassing - Ned was just such a fool, the majority of the vampire population hated that he was in such a position of royalty.

"You _bowed_ to him," Aubrey prompted upon receiving no response.

It was also suspected that even the king and queen didn't like him much-

"Beca!"

She blinked and met Aubrey's gaze. "Sorry, just got lost in thought a little there," she sighed, and Aubrey just raised her eyebrows expectantly. "He's part of the royal family. Like, the vampire royal family - our king and queen's sired."

Both she and Chloe paled a little. "Royal... family?" Chloe echoed.

"He was a vampire?" Aubrey said, a bit shrilly.

"Yeah, and he's a little prick. He flaunts his position over everyone just so he can get what he wants or do stupid shit. The large majority of our Clan dislikes him. I bet, though, that if he were better looking he'd have a pretty big fanbase." Beca plunked back down on the grass, angry. Of course _Ned_ had to ruin the actually fairly nice time she'd been having. What the hell was he even doing here?

Chloe and Aubrey sat on either side of her and they were all quiet for a moment. Then Chloe snorted in laughter, placing her hand on Beca's knee and giving it a little squeeze. "And to think that a few days ago I didn't think I'd ever actually meet a vampire. Now I've met two," she giggled, shooting Beca a warm look.

"Why do you know him personally?" Aubrey asked slowly. "I just mean... well, knowing people of royalty isn't exactly a common thing for humans."

"Werewolves don't even _have_ royalty," Chloe murmured, seemingly to herself.

Beca shrugged. "Nadine - my sire - is pretty involved in vampire politics. In human terms, she's kind of like a senator or something. We have fairly personal relationships with our leaders because they're usually in that place of power for a _long_ time. I used to go to really nice parties and even some meetings with Nadine, and got to meet a lot of influence vampires in our Clan - like King Darragh and Queen Hedevi. They're both _thousands_ of years old. But I think they don't plan on being in power for much longer, at the least, so they both sired a young man and a young woman. So now Ned is the prince, and Vivianne is the princess. In short."

Aubrey pouted a little and leaned back on her hands; Beca could practically see the gears turning in her mind as she processed all that.

"So when they step down, Ned and Vivianne will take their places?" Chloe said. She laughed a little. "I'm sorry, but what kind of kingly name is _Ned_? Vivianne I get. That's cool. Is she more liked than Ned?"

Beca snorted and smirked, appreciating Chloe's ability to turn something so serious into something more light, now more than ever. "Yeah, I guess. Most of us don't _quite_ know how to feel about her because she's really quiet and shy... I think that's just since she's young, and she's smarter than Ned, so she's aware that things are not as black and white as they seem. And I agree - Ned does _not_ seem like a name for a king. Maybe he'll grow up and change that."

"How old are they?" Aubrey asked softly.

"They were both turned between the human ages of seventeen and nineteen. In vampire years, though, they're practically babies, meaning it hasn't been that long since they were turned. Maybe like... twenty to forty years ago? I'm not sure. They're definitely more used to modern developments. Vivianne is the only one who really acts her age."

Aubrey nodded slowly and sighed. "Maybe it is about time we left this party. It was a bit of a bust, anyway. I hope the rest of the Bellas had a better time," she said crisply, getting back to her feet. "If either of you would like to do anything else, I'd be up for it, but I don't want to stay up all night. Spring break is mere days from being over and we have a lot of preparation to do for finals still."

Beca stood along with Chloe; she'd sort of forgotten about finals, and literally everything else about college life after seeing Ned. Before that she'd been pleasantly drifting into a sort of fantasy about things between her, Chloe and Aubrey working out the way she so wanted them to. One moment she thought it was a real possibility, the next more doubts came creeping back in - being introduced to another vampire in such a short span of time seemed to _really_ be eating at Aubrey, and she kept glancing at the back door to the house anxiously. Beca moved to her side the same time Chloe moved to the other.

"Let's just go back to our dorm and watch a movie or something," Chloe suggested with a small shrug. "I can make popcorn and hot chocolate?"

"Oh!" Aubrey said suddenly, whirling on Beca. "You're still hungry, aren't you?"

"I can wait a little while longer. Once you guys go to bed I'll go and maybe do a little hunting," Beca chuckled. She felt warmed by Aubrey's concern and thoughtfulness, and even caught sight of Chloe grinning at the two of them for a second.

Aubrey narrowed her eyes, a teasing light to them. "Alright. But you have to promise."

"I promise, Aubrey."

"Good." The blonde hesitated a moment, then took Beca's hand in her left and Chloe's in her right. Her face turned a bit red and she chewed on the inside of her cheek, leading them to the back door. Beca couldn't help smiling, and she was certain Chloe was just grinning as widely as she possibly could.

So maybe the moment hadn't been entirely ruined after all.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey all! Sorry it's been so long since I've last updated; I lost my steam a little bit and had to put this aside for awhile, but now I feel like I can get back to it. If this chapter seems a bit disjointed, though, let me know. It's finals week so I'm kind of in a weird head space lol.  
_

 _But yeah, things are happening! Stay tuned for conflict, maybe some angst, and more fluff! (Since this chapter was honestly quite a bit of fluff.) As always, reviews are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for sticking with me~_


	12. Chapter XII

**\+ XII +**

Aubrey stood panting onstage, Chloe and Beca on either side of her, held close to her body as the sounds of cheering and hollering washed over them. The rest of the Bellas stood in line, all beaming with pride. Their set had _killed_. They followed each other off the stage and went to take their seats in the audience; Aubrey caught sight of Beca giving Jesse a tight hug before she sat down, in between the blonde and Chloe. It was a very comfortable feeling, to all be this close, and as her adrenaline died down and they watched the rest of the performances, Aubrey felt like she could truly breathe again.

The build-up to finals had been about what she expected it to be. Now that it was over, she felt a small sense of loss. The year was almost over and things would more or less go back to "normal", meaning the Bellas wouldn't need to get together for regular rehearsals. Aubrey felt a tug of anxiety in her chest. She felt incomplete without the Bellas and therefore summer break was never all that appealing to her. As she sat there in her plush audience seat, vaguely watching the last group perform their set, a despairing sadness overcame her. She knew Chloe was bound to go back home for at least _part_ of the summer, and she had no idea where Beca would go - possibly to stay with her sire? Aubrey didn't even know what _she_ was going to do. The idea of going home herself didn't sound very nice.

But they still had a few more weeks - about a month. Even though tests and papers would soon take up a lot of everyone's time, Aubrey was determined to spend as much of it as possible with Chloe and Beca. For some reason, finals seemed more like an end than a beginning. She had redeemed herself even if they didn't win (though she was fairly confident they would) and yet she still felt... hopeless.

She glanced to her left, at Beca and Chloe. They were both more or less immersed in the performance. Neither of them looked _nearly_ as tired as any of the other Bellas, Aubrey included; she secretly wished she had some of their seemingly infinite energy. The two of them looked serene, actually, and proud. Aubrey felt herself smile as she leaned into her chair a bit more. What was the point of worrying about things that would happen in the future? And wow, she never thought she would ever think _that_. But it was true, and though she wondered why and how she hadn't figured it out sooner, she was going to enjoy this while it lasted.

* * *

"I don't think all of this is necessary, Chlo," Aubrey half-laughed, half-groaned. Their kitchen table was literally _covered_ with bowls of snacks and an assortment of drinks. Chloe had even decorated the whole of their dorm, working so fast and diligently it would have scared Aubrey had she not known that such speed wasn't so abnormal for her. She stood leaning against the archway to their kitchen, watching as Chloe meticulously stacked red solo cups. And she thought _she_ was a total stickler for detail.

"I want all the Bellas to feel comfortable if they're going to be spending the night. I can almost guarantee you _someone_ is going to get up in the middle of the night wanting a snack, so we have to be prepared," Chloe countered. She straightened and grinned. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little decorations for the right occasion."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "We need to discuss what you think the meaning of 'little' is."

Chloe laughed, but the sound of a knock on their door disrupted the beautiful sound and she shot out of the kitchen in the blink of an eye. Before Aubrey could even process what was happening she could hear Fat Amy and Cynthia-Rose entering the dorm. She moved into the living room, claiming a spot on the couch while Chloe helped the other two Bellas bring in the truly staggering amount of alcohol they had with them.

While the three of them were in the kitchen, talking boisterously, there was another knock. Aubrey got up to answer it, letting in Stacie, Jessica, Ashley, and Lily. She was about to close the door after them when she heard a shouted "Wait!" and she turned to see Beca dashing up the hallway. The brunette smirked sheepishly as Aubrey held the door open again.

"Hey," Beca said, that damned, adorable smirk making Aubrey's stomach coil up with a torrent of butterflies.

"Hey yourself," she shot back, acting on complete impulse to pull Beca into a hug. She could sense (and feel) Beca's instant surprise, then she relaxed into the embrace and returned it, perhaps eagerly. Aubrey was the one to pull away - she could feel her face heating up like she was in an oven - and she gestured Beca to continue into the dorm. The small brunette took all of two steps before she was ambushed by Chloe; the redhead nearly knocked her to the floor with the force of her own bear-hug.

"Beca!" she squealed. " _Now_ it's a party! Come on, I'll get you a drink. You too, Bree."

"Geez, Chlo, you're going to crush me!" Beca chuckled, which prompted Chloe to release her, though she did hold onto her hand in order to drag her into the kitchen. Aubrey followed after them, trying to make sure she wasn't just grinning like an idiot at the two of them, at least because she was worried someone might see it and start thinking things. If anybody _did_ see the way she looked at either of them their suspicions wouldn't be wrong - she just didn't think she could handle something like that right now.

She accepted the mixed drink Chloe offered her, not even caring (for once) what it consisted of, and led the way into the living room. Her spot remained open and she plunked down, sitting beside Cynthia-Rose. To her delight Beca came and sat near her on the floor.

"Alright, aca-bitches!" Chloe said, gaining everyone's attention. "This slumber party is brought to you by yours truly, with the help of our wonderful, beautiful captain, Aubrey Posen." She gestured to Aubrey and everyone whooped and hollered - Aubrey just blushed, hiding behind her cup as much as she could. "Now, this party is to celebrate our _landslide_ , aca-amazing win at finals-" more cheering "-so you all have my explicit permission to go as crazy as you want. As long as you don't break anything or yourselves."

"Yeah!" Fat Amy bellowed, raising her drink.

Beca got to her feet with a slightly awkward expression, rising her own cup in the air. "As corny as it sounds, I'd like to make a toast," she said, clearing her throat a little. Turning to Aubrey, she continued, "Aubrey, I'd just like to thank you for being so cool as to let go of your control and let me - let _all_ of us get us that win at finals. I think it was very admirable of you to do that, and it means a lot to me that you would listen to all my ideas. Finally." She smirked and Aubrey felt her heart practically convulse. "So, cheers."

There was a chorus of "Here, here!" as everyone raised their cups and took a drink.

Aubrey laughed, a bit awkwardly, and smiled at Beca. "Thank you, Becs. That's very sweet of you to say."

"I'm not done yet, actually," Beca half-sighed. She turned to Chloe. "I'd also like to toast Chloe, just for being who she is and rewarding us with dope parties."

"Hell yeah, ginger," Amy said, and she stood as well, swaying a bit on her feet. Clearly she was already a decent way down the road to wasted. "I'd like to say something, too. You've all been like a family to me this year, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Least I hope I'm not, because that might make this a little awkward. So - cheers to us. Not just Bellas, but a family of really awesome, hot girls."

Everyone laughed and toasted again, making sure to do another for Beca's second toast. Aubrey awed a little at Chloe's ecstatic expression; a warm feeling filled her entire chest and she forgot all of her worries, the ones that had been sticking with her since finals. Tonight was a night she didn't have to think about anything, she could just enjoy the company of some of her favorite people in perhaps the entire world. She smiled to herself. Tonight would be _fun_. She could manage to keep the more laid-back attitude she'd adopted by letting Beca take over most of the captaining for awhile longer. So when Stacie suggested they start off with a game of truth or dare, she didn't even come up with any objections.

* * *

The rest of the night, though, was mostly just a total blur. She remembered _parts_ of truth or dare - mainly Fat Amy being dared to wash her hair with whipped cream, and Lily being asked to tell the truth about why she always spoke so quietly even though nobody could hear her answer (Aubrey had the sneaking suspicion Beca and Chloe could, because of the advanced hearing they both must obviously have), and either Jessica or Ashley being dared to attempt a back flip that might have ended with something breaking. There might have even been an instant wherein Aubrey completed a dare that was most likely embarrassing, but she couldn't recall anything specific. There was really only one thing imprinted permanently on her mind, and she _really_ hoped she would remember it the next day.

Chloe at one point was dared to do a stripper dance, except without the actual stripping or a pole she could use. If that hadn't been enough to terminate any working brain cells Aubrey had left, the look on Beca's face as the redhead danced was the last straw. Beca had looked almost like she was about to pass out from the sheer fluidity of Chloe's alluring, jaw-dropping dancing, and her eyes - which were shifting back and forth from that steel blue and a blatant silver - kept flicking over to meet Aubrey's. It was all a bit... strange... but enjoyable.

Most everything after that just turned into mush, and Aubrey figured that was because her brain was absolutely fried. She just ended up proving herself wrong when, at around 5:30 in the morning, everyone suddenly crashed. She glanced around at all the Bellas piled up on the couch or hogging pillows on the floor, and stood; her bed would be much more comfortable, and then there would be a bit more space for whoever was on the couch - she honestly couldn't tell at this point. Stumbling towards her bedroom, she ran into Chloe in the hallway, the redhead having just come out of the bathroom. They would have fallen to the floor had she not moved quickly and helped Aubrey right herself.

"Whoa there," she giggled. Just like the last time they'd all _really_ drank a lot she _still_ didn't seem super affected. "Careful, Bree. We don't want you hurting yourself like last time."

"Why are you not as drunk as me?" Aubrey practically slurred.

Chloe grinned and winked. "It takes a _lot_ of alcohol to really affect a werewolf."

"Oh my god," Aubrey gasped, looking Chloe right in her bright blue eyes. "That's still a thing, isn't it? Oh my god, I can't believe I forgot about that. Where's Beca? She knows too, right? No, wait, I know she knows. Do you know that I know that she-"

"I think it's bedtime for you, too," Chloe interrupted gently, a hesitant laugh bubbling out her throat at the same time.

Aubrey shook her head stubbornly. If she was more sober she wouldn't be acting like this, but she was pretty much drunk off her ass and could be mortified by her actions in the morning (well, _later_ in the morning) when she was also fighting off what was probably going to be a horrendous hangover. "I'm not going to bed until I say goodnight to Beca. And you, you also should be getting sleep, because I'm sure you need a lot of it since you always seem to have so much boundless energy, and it's morning so Beca will need to sleep too because she's a vampire. Right? Yes, that's right." She nodded to herself and slipped past Chloe into her room, because although she was going to keep to her word and not fall asleep yet, she could at least be sitting down before she _fell_ down. Chloe poked her head through the doorway and she gave the redhead what she hoped was a meaningful look - in reality it was hardly even focused.

"Alright, Bree," Chloe laughed. "I'll go find Beca."

"Good." Aubrey sat on the edge of her bed as Chloe disappeared. She propped her foot up to take off her shoes, trying unsuccessfully for a few moments before remembering she was already barefoot. Chloe was taking her sweet time so she decided it also probably wouldn't hurt if she just laid down - under the covers, of course - so that if she really did just pass out it would be in a more comfortable position. She struggled to keep herself awake until she felt her mattress dip down with two different weights.

"You wanted to say goodnight to me?" Beca chuckled. The sound was dark and wrapped around Aubrey's ears, making it decidedly more difficult for her to pry her eyes back open. She felt a bit like she was experiencing a moment of euphoria just from Beca's _voice_.

She nodded. "Yes, and I think the both of you should be going to bed as well, and since you're both here why not just sleep in my bed because then you don't have to get up, you can just lie down with me and we can fall asleep until it's night again or something," she slurred, hitting either side of her and giggling at herself. In the back of her mind she partially hoped she wouldn't remember this - at least Chloe and Beca looked _tipsy_ , even if they weren't nearly as blackout drunk as Aubrey and the rest of the Bellas were.

Chloe didn't say anything, she just crawled over to Aubrey's other side and got under the covers, snuggling into the blonde with a contented hum. They both stared Beca down until the brunette rolled her eyes and relented. She got under the blankets as well, shifting close to Aubrey's side although she didn't cuddle in like Chloe did; she even reached over and turned off the light on the nightstand. Darkness enveloped the room, but out of the corner of her eye Aubrey could see the light glow from Chloe's when they were still open. Occasionally she even caught a few brief flashes of silver on her other side.

Calm settled over her frazzled mind, soothing her heartbeat, which she hadn't even realized was just pounding away in her chest. She wondered if Beca could hear it and assumed she could. Did that make her go a little crazy, to be able to hear her pulse, and Chloe's as well? Or did it make her hungry? By asking her to fall asleep with them, was Aubrey taking away time she could be using to go hunting? And what about Chloe? On any given day she consumed a _lot_ of food, most of it being high in protein. The chips and alcoholic drinks she had throughout the slumber party probably wasn't enough to hold her for more than an hour, maybe even less. Beca hadn't even had any of it and now there was nothing left in case she was truly desperate even though Aubrey didn't think she would actually _eat_ anything if she had a better choice-

She let out a shuddering sigh and shut her eyes tightly. Even this drunk she just couldn't turn her mind off. There were still so many questions she had about Chloe and Beca and she realized she'd been putting off asking them. After finding out their secrets she took some time to process it all, eventually coming to a confused conclusion that gave her way more questions than answers. Obviously, if she wanted to figure things out, she only had to ask. Both Chloe and Beca had said they would be more than happy to continue answering her questions, and now that she wasn't distracted by the newness of it all (or blood covering Beca head to toe) she just wanted to ask all of them now. But she was exhausted.

Very forcefully, Aubrey stopped any train of thought she had, focusing instead on the warm feeling of Chloe curled up against her. Beca, on the other hand, was really quite cold - almost like she wasn't actually there. That didn't matter, though. Aubrey could still feel her and she laced their fingers together to prove it. Sleep's heavy blanket overtook her shortly after.

* * *

Aubrey woke up with a dry taste in her mouth and she smacked her lips, wishing she had a glass of water close enough to her that she wouldn't have to move. Instead she knew she would have to stand up to get it, and the mere thought of it sent a wave of pain through her head, the kind of pain that made her nauseas at the same time. She sluggishly opened her eyes. Her ceiling was above her, so that meant she was in bed. Any memories she had of the night before were coming back to her slowly.

There was a warm presence pressed _very_ close to her side, and she could see a mass of wavy red hair - some of it was tickling her neck. On her other side was a colder presence and she glanced over to marvel a little at Beca's profile. Chloe's face was buried too deep into her neck for her to appreciate how she looked peacefully asleep, something that upset her a little, but here was Beca. Her eyes were closed lightly. Everything about her was calm, and her chest-

...Wasn't moving.

Aubrey sat up abruptly, jostling Chloe enough to prompt a small groan from her mouth. Beca's chest wasn't rising and falling like she expected it to be - like it _should_ be. A strangled sort of sound erupted from her throat and she quickly turned to Chloe, accidentally straddling her (though she wasn't conscious of that) and shaking her aggressively to wake her up, even though she knew how hard it was to wake the redhead under most circumstances.

"Chloe, Chloe wake up. Beca isn't breathing, Chloe, I need you-"

"What do you mean?" Chloe slurred, eyes blinking open groggily.

"Beca isn't breathing!"

Chloe shot up into a sitting position so quickly she almost knocked Aubrey off the bed. They both moved in sync to hover over Beca's still body, Aubrey frantically pressing her fingers to the brunette's pulse point in her neck in hopes of feeling a beat. Nothing. Panic coursed through her system and she suddenly went numb.

"Oh my god, Beca, wake up!" Chloe snapped in a high-pitched voice, holding her hand firmly against Beca's cheek. "You can't be dead, why the hell would you be-"

Beca's eyes suddenly snapped open and Chloe yelped in surprise. Feeling rapidly returned to Aubrey's body, making her skin a bit tingly with how quickly it returned, and she grabbed onto Beca's shoulders to give her a rough shake. "Why weren't you breathing?! Do you have any idea how scared we got?!" she cried.

"Dude, what?" Beca chuckled, though uncertainty sparked through her eyes. Upon opening they had been silver - now they turned back to blue with a single blink.

Chloe groaned and fell back onto her side. "Vampire. Right. Bree, she _is_ dead, and she _wasn't_ breathing, because she doesn't _need_ to," she mumbled, throwing her arm over her eyes.

Aubrey sat back on her heels, but before she could sink into confusion she heard a small gasp from beneath her. She met Beca's gaze and realized with a jolt that she was straddling the brunette's hips. "S-sorry," she practically whispered, hastily getting off her and half-falling off the bed to get to her feet. What had honestly just happened? Had she really been so out of it that she completely forgot Beca was a _vampire_?

"Hey, are you alright? Maybe you shouldn't be standing," Beca said softly.

Aubrey's face split into a grin and she burst out laughing. "I can't believe I just did that, oh my god..." she muttered in between laughs, mortified, and covered her face with her hands to hide a growing blush. "I'm so sorry, I woke both of you up for something so stupid-"

"It's fine, Bree," Chloe interrupted with a giggle. "I forgot for a second there, too. And we both just woke up, so there's that, and all that drinking we did..."

"Don't even pretend like either of you were anything more than tipsy," Aubrey said teasingly, moving towards her door. She _seriously_ needed water - cold ice water, to hopefully send her body the message that it could cool down now. As she exited her room and walked down the hall she felt two presences quickly approach her from behind and assumed both Chloe and Beca were using their crazy speed to catch up to her.

"That was honestly pretty cute, though," Beca said softly, so as to not wake the rest of the sleeping Bellas, and even without turning around Aubrey knew she was smirking.

"Well, Beca, believe it or not but we _do_ care about you," Chloe retorted.

Aubrey was fine with listening to their continuing banter as she got a glass of water, keeping the kitchen lights off so she wouldn't enflame her headache. She got out ibuprofen too and settled against the counter to watch the way Chloe and Beca interacted with each other. It was a very homey kind of feeling, to be standing in the kitchen like this with these two women she was honestly just falling in love with. She went and sat at the table and Chloe and Beca moved almost instantly to join her.

"So what exactly is the point of sticking around after finals?" Beca asked, picking at her teeth with what looked a lot like a clawed finger, but Aubrey _quite_ couldn't tell for sure.

Chloe frowned and glanced away from the used cups she was absentmindedly stacking again. "What do you mean? Don't you have tests and papers to do for your classes? If clubs or anything similar start interfering with your studies the administration might not let you continue to be in the Bellas for next year."

"But I don't really care about 'my studies'," Beca mocked, complete with air quotes.

"How did you even get into college, anyway? Have you gone to high school?" Aubrey asked gently. She took another drink of water and reminded herself not to feel nauseas.

"Are you kidding? Hell no," Beca scoffed. "No matter what century you're in high school is still just a shitty part of just about everyone's teenage life. I was never interested in going - besides, I've had plenty of real-life experience to know a lot of things that are taught in school. Jesse just helped me get a fake diploma and a bunch of other stuff like references. It was a lot of work and I'm honestly still surprised he did so much for me."

"Did either of you even think about what might happen if you were caught in your lie? That was incredibly reckless of you both!" Aubrey half-snapped, even though she was admittedly still too tired to put in much of her usual bite. She shook her head, interrupting Beca before the brunette could offer a comeback. "Never mind. Just so long as you're here and stay at least until Chloe and I graduate, I can't bring myself to care that you've broken the law."

Beca chuckled. "If you want to hear about me breaking the law, then man have I got some stories for you."

"I didn't say I wanted to be an accomplice!"

Beca laughed a bit harder, then glanced in the direction of the living room and quieting herself; Aubrey had mostly forgotten there were other people in the dorm aside from them. She looked to Chloe, who was being abnormally quiet, and frowned in concern. The redhead was gazing down at the table with a slightly saddened expression.

"Chloe?" she said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Chloe replied on a heavy exhale, looking back up, an obviously fake smile plastered across her face. "I think I might actually need to go back to bed, to be honest."

"Well that's alright," Aubrey said. "I can just force Beca to help me clean up."

Beca smirked at her wryly, but nodded to Chloe nonetheless. "Yeah, if you really need more sleep, go for it."

Chloe nodded and stood. She said nothing more and left for her bedroom; Aubrey and Beca exchanged a confused look, but neither of them knew what to say. It wasn't like Chloe to hide how she felt. Aubrey was used to the redhead describing any problem she had in detail whenever she would ask what was wrong. This was the first time in the years they'd known each other that she hadn't. Aubrey sighed and stood as well, to get another glass of water. Things were just so up and down... and somehow, seeing Chloe so upset for an unknown reason suddenly made her feel as if she needed to resolve to herself that she would tell her _and_ Beca how she felt. Or... something. Maybe. The real thought of it terrified her, so much so that she threw up a little in her mouth when she glanced back to Beca still sitting at the table.

Damn it, what was she going to _do_?

* * *

 _A/N: Special shout out to everyone who did reviews for the last chapter, they really made my day. Y'all are so sweet and supportive!  
_

 _Unfortunately you're all going to have to wait to figure out what I'm going to do with Ned._

 _Anyway, this is kinda sorta a filler chapter, and I don't know why they (mostly meaning Aubrey) keep getting drunk. The next chapter is gonna be summer vacation and things might go down. Who knows because I don't actually plan my chapters out, I just go for it lol. But I'm getting back into the feel for this story, so expect more updates (hopefully), especially since tomorrow is my last day of school for the semester._

 _Oh, and if any of you want to send little prompts that I can incorporate, please send me some! It would be interesting to at least try. Till next time, and I love reviews so keep 'em coming!_


	13. Chapter XIII

**\+ XIII +**

 _How does one invite love interests to meet their family and stay with them for a week or a weekend when those love interests were still just friends?_

Chloe had sent both her mother and her younger sister that question in a text, as she anxiously fidgeted at Aubrey's side. They were winding down from all their tests and papers with the rest of the Bellas, sitting out on the closest lawn outside their rehearsal space. She couldn't help being antsy - summer break was practically upon them and she wanted to ask Aubrey and Beca if they wanted to do something special when it was still early, before Aubrey most likely went back to her home for at least a little while, and Chloe figured Beca would go stay with her sire at some point. But Chloe wanted to maximize the amount of time she spent with them, because she was unsure how much they would be able to over the break - which was mostly just her anxieties. In the back of her mind she was fairly sure it wouldn't be _that_ hard, but the rest of her was nearly going into panic mode.

When they'd had their finals win celebration, Chloe had watched the way Aubrey and Beca were interacting the following morning, and she'd been surprised with the weird amount of sadness she felt in response. If anything she figured it would feel nice to see the two of them getting along so well - even if all three of them had been steadily getting closer, Aubrey and Beca were still prone to getting into little spats, even if they remained fairly light-hearted. Chloe had only felt despair, though. She was beginning to doubt the strength of a potential mate bond, almost especially since Beca was involved. Things had to get more complicated when it came to vampire-werewolf relationships, and throwing a human into the mix - Chloe couldn't even figure out how that would work, and it didn't help knowing that even if _all_ of them were human it would still be difficult.

"Chloe, would you stop fidgeting so much?" Aubrey sighed, interrupting her thoughts.

She nodded, not looking at the blonde. "Yeah. Sorry," she murmured. Without looking she could tell Aubrey was frowning at her in concern; she didn't blame her, she'd been acting a bit strangely ever since the morning after their celebration. Chloe just couldn't shake her doubts and it made them just a bit worse to think that she couldn't confide in Aubrey for advice or support. Not this time, anyway.

"Okay, what's going on?" Aubrey half-snapped - her "no bullshit" tone - as she turned a bit more towards Chloe, who could keep her gaze away any longer. There was just something very calming about those green eyes.

Releasing a breath, she felt herself relax a tiny bit, even if she still wasn't sure how she was supposed to go about breaching the subject of taking Aubrey and Beca home with her, for a week or just a weekend. She was aware it would probably give Aubrey some hesitations since she now knew that half of Chloe's family were werewolves, and she was _acutely_ aware of how uneasy it would most likely make Beca feel. A vampire walks into a house full of werewolves - it sounded like the beginning to a bad joke, and that was only assuming Chloe's family would actually _invite_ Beca inside. Chloe hadn't said anything about Beca being a vampire, not specifically, anyway... she had called her mama the morning after she and Beca had unintentionally revealed themselves to Aubrey, but had almost hung up the second she heard her mama's voice; she was worried about how she would react to her carelessness, and realized she had no idea how she was supposed to tell her mama that one of her potential mates was a _vampire_. As far as she was concerned there weren't really any cases of that happening, what with the constant hostility or just general dislike they all had for each other, and the instances she could vaguely recall hadn't exactly ended well. Being with a vampire meant being exiled at _best_ \- being sentenced to death at worse.

She shook her head a little to clear it, aware that Aubrey was still waiting for a response and she clearly wasn't interested in talking about anything else at the moment. "I... I don't know how to explain it, Bree, and I _want_ to talk to you about it, I just... I'm not sure how, but it isn't even really that important... I'll figure it out, though, and I'll let you know when I do."

Aubrey scowled, visibly displeased, and her eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Fat Amy.

"Oi, mate!" the Australian girl shouted, and they both looked to see who she was yelling at; a scrawny guy walking past them with an umbrella. He stopped and turned towards Amy. "Why've you got an umbrella? It's hot as hell outside," she added.

Chloe distinctly heard Beca, sitting fairly close to her and Aubrey but with Stacie in the way, swear softly under her breath. She realized why - Amy had just drawn Ned's attention to them, solidifying the idea that he really was enrolled at Barden. He surveyed their group and a nasty smirk grew on his face. Out of the corner of her eye Chloe saw Beca grimace.

"Well hello there, ladies," Ned purred, but his voice came out oddly high-pitched and squeaky. Amy grimaced a bit as well, probably realizing her mistake.

"Eh, never mind," she said. "Go live your odd umbrella life."

He ignored her and looked around again, gaze landing on Beca. His expression instantly soured too, mirroring the brunette's rather well. "Beca," he practically spat.

Beca said nothing.

Tension settled over them, and Chloe could tell that she and the rest of the Bellas had been caught in the middle of something they should _not_ be involved in. She exchanged a glance with Aubrey and the blonde moved to stand. "It is really hot out here - maybe we should all go inside? I do have one last thing to hand out to all of you, since this is technically our last day of rehearsal," she said, addressing the Bellas, who all eagerly stood with her. Chloe kept an eye on both Beca and Ned - she had a bad feeling.

"Wow, I know women are rude, but this is taking it to a new level," Ned sneered.

Beca made a low sort of growling noise as she stood - Stacie stared at her in slight surprise and turned to Chloe in questioning - but she still said nothing.

"This is especially rude of _you_ , Beca, and you know that isn't exactly allowed."

Now Beca was flexing her fingers, and for some reason Chloe could imagine her counting to ten in her head, trying to calm herself down. Aubrey was urging the rest of the Bellas to go back inside, but she wasn't having much luck, as everyone was slightly more interested in seeing what might happen.

Which was definitely their downfall.

Chloe could really only watch as Aubrey suddenly lost her patience and stalked up to Ned, eyes alit with a mean glare. Her advance finally got Beca to look away from the vampire prince, and her eyes widened in shock as Aubrey stopped right in front of Ned and slapped him across the face, _hard_. Fat Amy and Cynthia-Rose made sounds of impressed support while the rest of the girls cheered her on - but Aubrey was looking awfully pale now, and Chloe stiffened in anticipation, gaze flicking to see whether or not Beca looked worried. She did - in fact, she looked _scared_ , which was _not_ a good sign.

Everything that happened next happened pretty fast. Chloe saw Ned bare his teeth, and could tell even in that brief moment that his fangs were out, and his eyes had changed color from hazel brown to a sort of weird, acidic orange. Then he was tossing his umbrella to the ground and his hand snapped out to grip Aubrey by the throat, lifting her off her feet. She made a spluttering noise and clawed at his hand with her own, trying to loosen his grip, which was probably extremely tight. Chloe got the scary idea that he was currently crushing her windpipe.

She and Beca acted almost simultaneously, surging forward; she bit down as hard as she could into the arm Ned was using to hold Aubrey up in the air and Beca tackled him to the ground at the same time. They landed in a tussled heap and Chloe swiftly disengaged herself, not as intent on getting into an actual fight as she had been to get him to release Aubrey. She scrambled a few feet away and just panted for a second as she watched Beca and Ned wrestle around on the ground, clawing and biting at each other.

"Aubrey," she half-gasped, half-whispered, and turned to see that Stacie and Fat Amy had gotten the blonde to her feet and had pulled her a decent ways away from the fight unfolding before them. There was already a pretty nasty hand-shaped bruise around her throat and Chloe could hear her wheezing, leaning heavily into Stacie since she was probably a bit too lightheaded from the lack of air to stand on her own. She turned her attention back to Beca and Ned, wincing at the sight of what _looked_ like droplets of blood scattered on the sidewalk. It was just slightly discolored, a tiny bit more reddish-copper than just red.

It was then Chloe noticed how hazy her mind felt, and her body was so tense it _hurt_. She had yet to turn outside of the full moon but her mama had told her enough about it (so she would be prepared if/when it ever did happen) that she recognized what was happening. And that meant she had to either get away from everyone _fast_ , or she had to try her hardest to repress it and stop it from happening, something she was fairly sure wouldn't exactly be the easiest feat. She glanced back and saw Fat Amy had abandoned Aubrey's side, and she and Cynthia-Rose were getting a bit closer to Beca and Ned rolling about on the ground, as if they were going to attempt to break them up. Not only were there few openings to do so, but Chloe figured they saw how intense the fight really was, and that understandably gave them pause.

She leapt to her feet and instantly swayed to the side; a symptom of turning when it wasn't the full moon was a messed up vertigo, and everything in front of her was spinning so much it made her a bit nauseas. Her teeth were already sharpened - that had happened right before her jaw clamped down around Ned's arm - and she could vaguely feel some of her other features changing, like her ears and obviously her eyes, as well as her hands and feet a little. Worse of all was the pain in her head and chest. The pain in her head was fairly normal, certainly _after_ a turning, but in her chest? Not so much. It was actually a little frightening, and she placed a hand over her heart, tugging a bit at her shirt. Her senses felt a bit clogged and she wasn't sure if she could stop herself from turning for much longer.

Then she felt something... _foreign_ , and to her surprise Beca and Ned suddenly stilled, pausing in positions that would have been comical if this was a movie or something. Beca was on top of him and had gone in for his throat, mouth open and the tips of her fangs hovering over his jugular vein, while his clawed fingers were halfway through sinking into her shoulders. The strange feeling gave Chloe a bit of pause as well, but it didn't last very long; it was quickly replaced by a strange amount of fear, and she turned and half-ran, half-stumbled over to the rest of the Bellas, who were standing protectively around Aubrey. Amy and Cynthia-Rose dashed over as well, exchanging befuddled glances with the others.

Chloe noticed a woman walking nearer, her slight heels clicking on the sidewalk's surface. She didn't look too old, probably in her mid to late forties, and she had a certain elegance to her that suggested she was from a different time entirely. Chloe understood immediately that this woman was another vampire (although she wasn't sure why the revelation came to her quicker than how she figured out Beca was one, but maybe that was just because she'd been meeting a lot of vampires recently and was coming to recognize them). The woman's eyes were silver like Beca's, but a much lighter shade. She came to a halt right beside Beca and Ned, crossing her arms at first. Then she leaned down and grabbed Beca by the back of her shirt to yank her off the vampire prince, and just like that movement seemed to return to the brunette. For a second she struggled to get out of the woman's grasp before she looked up and saw who it was, instantly calming - though that wasn't quite the right word, because Chloe could see she looked absolutely _livid_. Ned scrambled to his feet and even from where she was Chloe could tell he was smirking in triumphant satisfaction. Both of them didn't look too good, and if either of them were human they would probably be panting from the exertion of their fight. They each sported a whole manner of cuts ranging from relatively deep ones to mere scratches, as well as a plethora of bite marks.

For a few, tense moments longer there was silence. Then the woman snapped, "What on _earth_ are the two of you doing? Fighting like this in such an open space, putting other people in danger - you should both be ashamed!" Her voice had a thick French accent and Chloe realized this must be Beca's sire, Nadine.

"I'm glad ya showed up when you did," Ned snarled. "You can help me tell Beca off for fucking up-"

"Silence!" Nadine interrupted, briefly baring her teeth. Ned instantly shut his mouth. "Beca is not the only one to blame in this instance, and for that I am certain. But we mustn't discuss this now. Ned, go home - I expect to see you later. Go on! _Dégage_!"

Ned scowled, and Chloe assumed that was in part because he didn't understand French, but he nonetheless retrieved his umbrella and stalked away. He shot one last glare in Beca's direction, but Nadine intercepted it with one of her own - he quickly broke into a short jog just to distance himself from her. Chloe brought her hands up to kind of shield her face away from view of the rest of the Bellas, her heart still pounding as she fought to keep herself from turning. Her instincts still told her someone she cared about was in danger and that only made it harder, and in the back of her mind she seemed to remember her mama saying something about it being really bad if a werewolf tried to keep themselves from turning in a situation like this - besides, it was much easier to go with the flow of a turning. She could feel her bones and muscles straining against her human form. The pain was a bit blinding and she thought for a second she might pass out, but then she had other things to worry about. Nadine walked up to her and the others, Beca trailing after her. The brunette wasn't exactly in a very vampiric form herself, though it looked like she too was fighting to hide her true nature. Her eyes wavered unsettlingly between steel blue and silver.

The Bellas collectively shuffled backwards a bit at the sight of Nadine coming closer, but Aubrey stepped forward, a hand massaging the column of her throat. She cleared it a few times and coughed a little. "Thank you for stopping that fight," she said a bit pitifully, voice strained and hoarse. Her gaze ping-ponged back and forth from Beca, Nadine, and even Chloe.

"You're welcome," Nadine said curtly. She looked over at the others, standing mostly behind their captain and co-captain, and Chloe felt that foreign sensation wash over her again. Something told her it wasn't directed at her, though. "You all should go inside, and you can wait for your friends in there. Thank you."

The Bellas turned and entered the building together without a word.

"What was _that_?" Chloe gasped. Her body shook violently from the stress of holding herself together, and Aubrey had the _nerve_ (after just nearly being _choked to death_ ) to shoot her a worried look.

Nadine frowned. "You can't stop yourself from turning, little pup. It's damaging to your body - even I know that. Let yourself go and we can go on a short walk. Just follow this one's scent, we'll go into the forest," she said, stepping closer to Aubrey, who flinched back about a centimeter. Chloe felt a bit better about turning now although she knew it would probably just be reckless, but she also _knew_ it was dangerous - so she did as Nadine said and let go. To her it happened in the blink of an eye, and she looked up at Aubrey and Beca in turn. Aubrey was staring at her with wide eyes whereas Beca merely arched an eyebrow and smirked lightly. Chloe shook herself, and the next thing she knew Nadine was grabbing hold of Aubrey, picking her up off the ground a little in a gentle manner. She practically disappeared and Chloe followed Aubrey's much more familiar scent, running after her with Beca following.

They went into the nearest part of the forestry area; Nadine set Aubrey down and turned pointedly to Beca, whose injuries were all almost completely healed now. Chloe padded over to Aubrey and sat beside her; in this form she was much more like a wolf, just not average sized. She was much closer to the size of a black bear, and she could tell that sort of freaked Aubrey out a little, understandably. It wasn't often one saw a giant wolf roaming around.

"I don't know what it was you were thinking, _mon petit papillon_. You can't just attack our prince like that," Nadine murmured.

"Well it's not like that's the entire story," Beca snarled. She looked past her sire at Aubrey, frowning at the blonde sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Aubrey, but I can't really hold back any longer, either. In emotional states like these it's just a lot easier to be in my true form." And just like that she morphed swiftly into her vampire form; her skin glowed lightly and she looked hauntingly dead. Chloe heard Aubrey let out a small squeak and nuzzled her snout against the blonde's leg, wagging her tail slightly in hopes of calming her down. She didn't really think it actually helped; this was all probably a bit too much happening at once for Aubrey to handle.

Nadine tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms. "Tell me, then, what is the entire story?" she said.

"He tried to choke Aubrey!" Beca snapped. "Sure, I'll admit that I got kinda out of control and fought him longer and more viciously than necessary, but I couldn't just let him get away with something like that without _some_ sort of repercussions."

"That is not for you to decide," Nadine sighed.

"What are you saying? That I should have let him do whatever he wanted to Aubrey?"

"You nearly revealed not only him and yourself, but Chloe as well. Can't you see her instincts told her to turn, to protect at least Aubrey, if not you, too? I know you don't know much about werewolves, and that is partially my fault for not educating you. But you must understand, _mon petit papillon_ \- if Chloe had tried much longer to keep herself from turning, she would have hurt her body and her mind." Nadine let out another sigh, glancing over her shoulder at Chloe. She was listening, of course - she might be in a wolfish form, but the human part of her mind and self was fully intact at the same time - and her chest clenched a little at the thought of what could have happened had she resisted any longer. Her mama hadn't exactly gone into depth about the possible consequences, but now Chloe knew she should probably ask about it as soon as she got the chance.

Beca frowned, and she too glanced in Chloe's direction. Her lips pulled up into a brief, smirk, though, and Chloe wondered what that was about. Then she glanced down at her feet and shame crossed her features. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I wasn't thinking. I was just so angry that Ned would dare lay his hand on Aubrey like that, but I shouldn't have lost control over myself like that. I'm sorry, Chloe, for nearly revealing us. And I'm sorry, Aubrey, that this got so out of hand." She looked up at the blonde then. Aubrey's face was both flushed and pale; she had a hand clamped over her mouth. Chloe knew that meant she was valiantly trying to keep back a torrent of vomit from coming out. She shook her head in response to Beca's apology, almost as if to indicate it wasn't that big of a deal.

"I meant it when I said we would be seeing Ned later. We will talk with him and the King and Queen about what we will be doing with the two of you - fighting amongst each other is strictly prohibited, and you know that, Beca. In the meantime you and these two lovely ladies can rejoin your friends. I'm sure Chloe here won't feel the need to stay in this form much longer." With that and one last meaningful look in Beca's direction, Nadine vanished in a show of intense speed, leaving the three of them alone.

"Oh, god," Aubrey mumbled around her hand, and she lurched to the side to vomit. The strong scent instantly hit Chloe's nose and she let out a disgruntled yip that probably didn't do anything to help Aubrey's anxiety-induced nausea. Chloe flattened her ears against her head and slinked away with her tail in between her legs to crouch behind Beca. The brunette looked down at her, morphed into her human form, and gently patted her on the head. Her expression was a bit awkward, though. Chloe shook herself again and just like earlier, she was back to her own human form in the blink of an eye. She got to her feet and brushed her hands on her jeans (thank _god_ she wasn't naked - she didn't tear out of her clothes when it wasn't a full moon turning, something else she'd have to ask her mama about). Beca smiled at her sadly, a repeated apology swimming through her steel blue eyes.

"Aubrey, I'm sorry about all this, too," she said softly. "I know you're not exactly used to all this yet, and neither of us really-"

"It's not that I'm not _used_ to it," Aubrey spluttered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and grimacing slightly. "That scrawny little twig nearly _killed_ me, Chlo. I know neither you nor Beca would have let that happen, but it was still a bit too close for comfort. And, well, yeah, seeing you as a _giant dog_ and Beca in full-on vampire form again was aca- _weird_."

Chloe flinched. Now that she also had a moment to think back to what she'd been contemplating earlier, she had low hopes for either Aubrey or Beca accepting her offer to go home with her. Even if it was just for a weekend.  
"Let's go back to the Bellas," Aubrey sighed, stepping up to the two of them. She scowled down at Beca and crossed her arms loosely over her chest. "Why did they all go back inside so easily like that? I didn't think any of them would just do as Nadine said... And what was that weird... feeling?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't just assume you know what I'm talking about when I say that-"

"No, I know exactly what you mean," Beca interrupted gently. "That's a power vampires have - compulsion. It works especially easy on weaker-minded humans, and vampires get stronger the older they are, so I doubt Nadine had trouble getting them to do what she wanted because of that." Her gaze flicked to Chloe and she smirked sheepishly. "I don't really think it works super great on werewolves no matter how strong we are - at least, it's more difficult to _make_ it work. Something about being half-human and half-animal makes their minds a lot stronger than just the average human's, without even factoring in variables for individuals."

"Isn't that supposed to be one reason why we're not really supposed to like each other so much?" Chloe murmured, running a hand through her hair. The whole endeavor of today had left her fairly wiped out; she really wanted to just sit down for awhile.

Beca's smile faltered some and she looked sad. "Yeah. It is."

They both lapsed into a sort of depressed silence, and Chloe sighed. Everything just got a hell of a lot harder in her mind. She could feel Aubrey's gaze flicking between them and hoped she wasn't hurting the blonde's feelings because of her sudden bout of sadness, but then again, what could she do about that? Faking happiness would just make it worse.

Aubrey sighed. "Let's go back to the auditorium, please."

* * *

They rejoined the rest of the Bellas, and Chloe dejectedly plunked down in a seat, attempting to put on a less upset facade so none of the other girls would think something was wrong. Beca did so as well, but that didn't stop the tirade of questions forced upon her - although Chloe assumed the brunette had expected as much.

"What the hell was all that bullshit?" Cynthia-Rose snapped, hands on her hips. "That little white boy was surprisingly strong - he could have _killed_ Aubrey!"

"Yeah, all I did was ask him why he had an umbrella. No reason for him to get so upset," Amy added. She glanced over at Aubrey. "'Course, it didn't really help that you slapped him across the face, no matter how badass it was."

Aubrey deflated slightly. "Do we have to talk about this right now?"

"Yeah, didn't you say you had something to hand out to all of us?" Chloe asked, smiling at her supportively. Aubrey returned the smile with one of gratitude.

Cynthia-Rose held her hands up and shook her head. "Aw hell no. I want some answers. This isn't the first time some weird shit has gone down, and I think y'all owe us an explanation."

"Right, there was also that whole thing between Chloe and Beca, when they nearly ran us over they were running so fast," Stacie huffed. She looked calculating, and for a second Chloe exchanged a slightly panicked look with Beca, wondering if she was getting closer to the truth. But how could she? The truth that they were a werewolf and a vampire wasn't quite something that was near the top of the list of possible answers.

"And it's kinda like the three of you are all in on it," Fat Amy said, gesturing between Chloe, Aubrey and Beca. "What gives, huh? Aren't we like family to you? A really attractive family, too. Let's not forget that."

Aubrey briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose, exhaling out her mouth. "I don't think right now is really the time to discuss this," she said lowly, her tone - though still strained from being choked - leaving no room for argument. "Besides, it isn't even actually up to me, so if Beca and Chloe want to explain it, they can. I can't speak for them. But right now I'm just going to pass around this list of songs I think you all should check out, because I thought they might be interesting for next year's set lists. You can give them a listen and when we come back next year we can talk about them. I also want you all to write down songs you're drawn to or that stick with you over the summer and bring them in so we can maybe incorporate them as well. Think of it a bit like homework, just without anything bad happening if you half-ass it or don't even do it at all." She walked around as she spoke, passing out a thin packet of papers to each of the Bellas. Chloe only partially listened to her, distracted by the feeling of vibrations in her back pocket from her phone. Either her mother or her sister - or possibly both - had finally answered the text she'd sent them.

"We wouldn't skip out on homework you give us, Aubrey," Fat Amy sighed. "Even if you're a bit of a tyrant sometimes, you've grown a lot this year - and I'm not saying that just because I'm pretty sure you somehow got taller."

Aubrey smiled at her, the first genuine, warm smile she'd shown in a decent while, even if it was still a bit tired. "Thank you, Amy," she said.

Chloe sighed silently so as to not drawn attention to herself and quickly pulled out her phone while the others converged around Aubrey, leaving her and Beca well enough alone - something she supposed the two of them deserved. She saw on her lock screen that both her mama and her little sister had responded; she opened the string of texts from her sister first, smirking lightly at what she read as affection washed over her.

 _ **Potential love interests? How do you manage to be so specific yet so vague at the same time?**_

 _ **Just tell them, geez. Wouldn't it be easier?**_

 _ **If not tho I guess just ask if they want to come for the weekend, that's a bit more chill than the whole week, ya know?**_

 _ **Can't wait to meet them!**_

It was her little sister's not-so-subtle way of telling Chloe to just suck it up and invite Beca and Aubrey over. She had to agree that asking them for just the weekend was probably less... intimidating, but her stomach clenched with anxiety either way. There was no telling after the day they were having that either of them would be up for it... or was there? She shook her head at herself opened the singular text from her mom, a longer paragraph.

 _ **Honey, there's never anything wrong with trying. Again, if they really are potential mates they'll feel it, too, and that will most likely push them towards saying yes :) there's also nothing wrong with just inviting them as friends, if you're still not quite okay with the idea of telling them how you feel, or don't think they're ready for that. Just do whatever you're most comfortable with, and your father, siblings and I will make sure THEY feel comfortable as well, if they do choose to come home with you for a little while. Let me know what they say if you ask them any time soon. I believe in you! Xoxo**_

Chloe felt her eyes prickle with a few tears - she probably had the best mom in the world. She sucked in a deep breath and pocketed her phone. The Bellas were beginning to disperse, and she saw that this was probably her moment to suck it up and ask Beca and Aubrey if they wanted to go home with her. Assuming neither of them had already left, anyway. She took the time to say goodbye to the others still there (it wasn't like they wouldn't see each other at _all_ over the summer, but still) and approached Aubrey. She was erasing the few notes still on the whiteboard, and she turned when Chloe stopped a pace or two away from her.

"What's up?" she murmured, though she didn't make it sound like she expected an actual answer.

Chloe clasped her hands behind her back. "I feel like we need some time away from all this - the campus and the rest of the student body, you know? I was already planning on going back home next week, but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me, either for the weekend or the entire week? I was going to ask Beca if she wanted to come, too. And don't feel like you have to say yes, I just-"

"Yes," Aubrey instantly interrupted, her voice coming out in a breathy rush. Her eyes were bright with excitement, a lovely relief for Chloe. "I would love to, Chlo. That sounds perfect - and I hope Beca will say yes as well."

"What am I saying yes to?" Beca asked, suddenly standing right beside Chloe, her hands stuffed in her back pockets.

"Do you want to come back home with me next week?" Chloe asked, heart pounding.

Beca snorted and smirked. "Your heart's beating pretty fast - are you worried I'm going to say no? Because if you are, that must mean I'm doing something wrong. Of course I'd like to come. I just hope I don't get in too much trouble before I can even ask Nadine about it."

"Do you have to ask her for permission to go places?" Aubrey asked, gesturing for them to leave the now-empty auditorium.

"Mm, kinda," Beca hummed. "Only because it's difficult for us to be apart. There's a certain level of almost necessary contact that needs to be there between a sire and their sired. Being _sired_ to someone, as well as _siring_ someone, is an incredibly strong bond. Although it isn't always super difficult for us to get over the distance between us physically, that can get a bit tricky when we're in different countries, for example. How long will we be staying at your home, Chlo? I'm also guessing this means we'll be seeing your family," she said.

"Of course. I was thinking either for the week or just the weekend."

"That should be fine. I just hope Nadine will let me go."

They were silent for a few paces, absentmindedly walking through campus together. The air was warm and the sun was out, reminding Chloe that they probably shouldn't stay out in it for _too_ long - earlier as they sat with the Bellas outside, Beca had gradually looked more and more uncomfortable, sickly, even, and everyone probably noticed it. Therefore it made sense why Ned had an umbrella with him.

Aubrey spoke up softly as they neared more students milling about. "She mentioned that fighting is basically frowned upon, so will you be severely punished? Ned is also the prince - I'm assuming that makes it worse.

"I mean, yeah," Beca huffed. "Our strength is in our unity, so we don't really permit fighting amongst each other, but this was just a little spat. I doubt either of us will be punished _too_ badly. It's not like we went to war with each other. But yeah, it doesn't exactly make me look too good for getting in a fight with _Ned_ , of all people. The King and Queen are pretty understanding, though. When I tell them he was being threatening to a bunch of humans, not to mention a bunch of humans I really care about, they should get why I tried to get him to back off. He'll probably just turn it around to make it seem like _he_ was the one being threatened, though - it doesn't help that you slapped him, Bree, although I must admit I'm jealous of you."

Aubrey smirked briefly, but wiped it off her face quickly. "It's lucky that Nadine showed up," she said softly.

"Not so much. She's been meaning to check out the campus, so I was going to pretty much give her a tour today, but that's going to have to wait. I bet she went to tell Darragh and Hedevi about what happened and to set up a meeting between us and them." Beca looked to Chloe, and she smiled and frowned at the same time. "They're gonna wonder about the bite marks on his arm, by the way."

"Well, I'm sorry if I get you in even more trouble," Chloe sighed.

Beca stared at her a moment longer, weariness passing through her eyes. "Speaking of, kinda... does your family know about... me?" she practically whispered.

Chloe pursed her lips. "No," she said simply, maintaining eye-contact. "I was going to tell my mama that day Aubrey found out about us, but... I just couldn't, for some reason."

"Do you not think they'll accept me?" Beca asked. In the meantime Aubrey glanced between the two of them, anxiety painted across her face. The bruise on her neck somehow looked worse in the sunlight and Chloe noticed she was getting a few glances.

"I'd say it's fifty-fifty," Chloe murmured, shrugging. "My dad probably wouldn't care that much, though he tends to side with my mama when it comes to things like this. She's never said a lot on how she personally feels about it, so I just don't know. But I have a pretty good feeling she'll at least _try_ to be open-minded." Sure, she hadn't told her family about Beca being a vampire, but she was still a potential mate, and Chloe thought that that counted for something. No matter if the vampire-werewolf relationship thing also made it difficult at the same time. They continued walking in silence, Chloe thinking up the best way to tell her mama, holding her phone in her hand so as to not give herself a moment to hesitate. She was feeling an inexplicable amount of hope again, and she just went with it, because optimism was what she did best. Once she thought up something she quickly sent it to her mother, pocketed the phone, and took both Aubrey's and Beca's hands in her own (luckily she was in the middle). She felt lighter than she had for awhile, and while she sort of desperately hoped it would last, the soft smile on Aubrey's face and the light smirk on Beca's were just enough for her to forget about all her worries. At least for the time being.

* * *

 _A/N: Happy holidays, everyone! (although this is technically closer to New Year's, lol.)  
_

 _So things kinda went down in this chapter... hopefully it isn't too long. In the next one I'm probably going to do part of the one prompt I was sent. Y'all should send me more! I'd love to try to incorporate little things in with the plot._

 _Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. Reviews are always welcome~_


	14. Chapter XIV

**\+ XIV +**

"Tell me again _why_ we're driving all the way?" Beca sighed, lounging in the backseat of Aubrey's car with her headphones around her neck. They'd left Barden early in the morning and were now well enough on their way to Chloe's home. The redhead was driving, with Aubrey in the passenger seat, and Beca was mostly just trying not to be jealous or upset about the fact that she was all by herself in the back.

Chloe shrugged. An ecstatic smile that had started the night before when they were all making sure they were appropriately packed still hadn't left her face. "I just thought it'd be fun. I mean, have you ever been on a road trip before, Becs?" she said.

"No, because it's easier to just _run_ when the distance isn't that much," Beca huffed.

"How do you get across country, or to different countries?" Aubrey asked before Chloe could offer a retort, turning around in her seat.

Beca sat up a bit, giving a little shrug of her own. "Well, it used to be a lot more tedious, considering how far transportation has evolved. I remember having to sail across the ocean to get back here from France, with Nadine. Now we have the pleasure of airlines. Still, though, we _hardly_ use cars. The only time I'm ever in one is if I'm going somewhere with Jesse."

"Do you have your license?" Chloe asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"Technically, but I haven't really driven much the past... I dunno, twenty years? Never really saw the need to." Beca leaned back in her seat and glanced out the window; they'd gotten to the part of the highway that had far less cars, the road only two lanes.

Aubrey turned back around in her seat and propped her feet up on the dashboard, and Beca felt her face start to turn a little red. The blonde was wearing a pair of _awfully_ short jean shorts, along with a long sleeved shirt. She wore a little scarf around her neck to hide the steadily vanishing bruise on her neck, like the one she'd worn during Bellas auditions at the beginning of the year. Chloe also wore shorts, and a t-shirt under a flowy cardigan. Her shocking red hair was up in a loose bun. Beca felt a little ill-prepared clothes-wise, still in her favorite pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt as well. Despite always needing to stay relatively cool, to help with any potentially longer exposure to the sun, she preferred darker colors and not showing off too much skin - mainly because she was pale as hell and, after being in the sun too long, she not only felt a bit sick but also itchy and overheated. If her skin showed less that at least would help her to not feel like she was about to explode from overexposure and being too hot.

Regardless of whatever _she_ was wearing, she had half a mind to wonder if Aubrey and Chloe were both looking so hot on purpose, like they conspired together to figure out a way to render Beca a blundering, nervous mess. Even if that was a bit of a stretch it was still working.

"So, we're going straight to your house," Aubrey said, breaking the relative quiet (they were taking turns playing their own music, keeping the volume low).

Chloe shook her head. "Remember, we first need to stop by a Target or something to get Beca a swimsuit. I can't believe you don't even _own_ one at all," she said, glancing in the mirror again to shoot the brunette a cheeky look.

Beca rolled her eyes. "What's the point? It's not like I'm gonna be doing any sunbathing, and you might even have to _force_ me to get in any water."

"Well, you can still have the _option_ of swimming. We've got a really nice pool, and it gets super hot, so I thought you'd like to be able to cool down if we're ever outside a lot. Of course, there will still be umbrellas and stuff available for you," Chloe explained cheerily. Beca clenched her jaw to stop herself from saying something not so thought through; she was incredibly nervous to meet Chloe's family, despite the redhead's reassurance that she was welcome. She'd talked to her mother about it after all and received a go-ahead, although Beca was still expecting at least a _little_ animosity. Nadine had warned her plenty of times leading up to this trip, making her go over a whole lot of etiquette so as to not offend anyone. Beca just couldn't help feeling nervous no matter what.

She squirmed a little in her seat, lounging back again so that she would no longer be in Chloe's line of view if she looked into the rearview mirror. "And you're _sure_ I'm welcome?" she practically whispered, sort of hoping the redhead wouldn't even hear her.

No such luck, of course not with Chloe's acute hearing. "Of course you are! I told you, I talked to my mama. She was certainly _surprised_ , but she isn't about to keep you from visiting. In fact, I think she's really excited to meet you. Werewolves have average life spans, a lot like humans', so she's never met or even seen an actual vampire before. I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable - and if you ever _do_ feel uncomfortable, please let me know, Becs."

"Yeah, of course," Beca replied, swallowing a sigh. Maybe what was worrying her most was the idea of having Chloe as a potential mate; the acceptance of her family meant a lot, just as much to Beca personally. But she was going to try to not let her worries and anxieties get in the way of having a good time, especially since Chloe was just so excited to be doing this, and for the first time in a decent while Aubrey looked truly relaxed.

* * *

Once they got to Chloe's hometown, they took a detour to get gas and use the bathroom before taking _another_ detour to a Target. Chloe and Aubrey practically dragged Beca inside, both of them spouting off one reason or another for her to get a proper bathing suit, and since they were here why not try on a few themselves - Beca tuned out so she wasn't entirely sure what all they went on about. The next thing she knew she was carrying a plethora of bathing tops and matching bottoms, watching on with minor boredom as Aubrey and Chloe picked out more and more.

She glanced around at some of the other people milling around this section. A mom and her two kids and one couple. The guy was dutifully trailing after his girlfriend with a bunch of different clothing items in his arms, and Beca flushed, realizing how close she, Aubrey and Chloe resembled that. But they probably all looked a lot more like a group of friends than anything else (something that bothered Beca if she took a moment to admit it).

"I think you guys have picked out enough swimsuits for every girl in this city," Beca piped up, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Ugh, fine," Chloe huffed teasingly. She winked and spun around in the direction of the changing rooms.

Aubrey hung back to relieve Beca of some of her burden. "Sorry, but you know how she gets. Even something like shopping for clothes is excitable enough for Chloe." Beca snorted in amused agreement and they followed after the skipping redhead. At first they meandered along in quiet, but then Beca felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked over at Aubrey. The blonde's height advantage forced her to tilt her head back just so she could meet green eyes. "Are you doing alright, Beca? You seem distracted," Aubrey murmured. "If it's just nerves about meeting Chloe's family, _I_ would say you have nothing to worry about, but... that isn't really incorporating..." She stopped speaking a bit abruptly as someone walked by them. "Well, you know what I mean," she finished a bit lamely. "Chloe's family is a lot like _Chloe_ \- hug first, ask questions later. And I bet they'll love you."

Beca smiled weakly. She was starting to feel a _bit_ better, but not really by much. "You've met them before, right? I mean, I'm guessing you have a decent amount of experience if you're as confident as you say."

"I met her parents and younger sister on, like, our first day at Barden," Aubrey said, walking a bit slower to look at a top they were passing. Quickening her pace again, she smiled warmly, causing a bunch of butterflies to erupt in Beca's stomach. "But going to their home and meeting _all_ of them is new for me, too, and... I'm also nervous. So at least you're not alone."

"Hey, slow pokes! I got us each a dressing room - I hope that's okay," Chloe gushed, jumping over and interrupting Beca before she could say anything else. She hadn't even realized they'd reached the dressing rooms. Peering around the corner, she saw three different doors with each of their names on the little whiteboards. "Come on, I don't wanna spend forever here," Chloe giggled, distributing the swimsuits.

Beca allowed herself a small smirk, taking hers into the appropriate room. She tried a few on and eventually settled on two - not because of how they looked, exactly, but mostly because they were on sale and she had the sneaking suspicion Chloe was going to try to pay for all of them. She was about to take off the last one she was trying on, but a soft grunt caught her attention and she turned around in time to see Chloe slipping in under the door.

"Jesus, Chlo!" Beca half-snapped, half-giggled, desperately covering herself and even snatching her hand out to grab her discarded clothes. "What are you doing?"

"I wanted a second opinion on this one," Chloe said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She was panting a little bit and looked flushed. "What are _you_ doing? Come on, it isn't really like I haven't seen you before. Remember how we met?" she added in a sing-song voice. _How could I forget?_ Beca thought, but as a response she simply narrowed her eyes more or less playfully at the redhead. Chloe huffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm _waiting_ , Beca. What do you think of this one?"

Beca allowed herself to look, then immediately regretted the decision, because a series of stammered, incoherent words flew from her mouth the second she did so. "You, uh, I mean it's - y-you look good - great, really - it's good," she stuttered out.

"You think?" Chloe said. Her bright blue eyes seemed even brighter than usual.

"Y-yeah," Beca muttered, trying to keep her voice from coming out in a breathy sigh.

She noticed a pair of feet from under the door, and Aubrey's voice floated to them. "If I'm hearing the two of you correctly, Chloe, you've once again invaded Beca's privacy in a rather inappropriate situation," she said dully.

Chloe swiftly opened the door and yanked Aubrey into the dressing room at the same time, much to the blonde's apparent surprise. "What do you think of this one, Bree?" she asked in such a nonchalant tone Beca actually had a moment of annoyance, because there was no way Chloe was oblivious enough to _not_ be doing this on purpose. At the same time, what did _that_ mean, if she _was_ doing this on purpose? Was she just trying to embarrass Beca? No, probably not - Chloe wasn't like that. There had to be another reason.

"It's really cute," Aubrey replied, her voice hitching up an octave, and her cheeks looked like they were pretty much on fire. "But why don't we leave so Beca can change in peace?"

"Is this one you picked out, Becs? You know you can get more than one if you want, right?" Chloe said. A mega-watt grin increased the brightness to her eyes - Aubrey, on the other hand, rolled her own in a mixture of amusement, affection, and vague offense for being ignored. Beca just had to remember how she was supposed to _speak_.

"Yeah, it is," she said, hesitating a moment before tossing her clothes back onto the bench, though she still crossed her arms a bit self-consciously.

"I love it!" Chloe chirped. She bit her lower lip like she was trying to squash down her grin some and bounced a little on her feet. Aubrey nodded in agreement with an expression like she was tongue-tied, and wow, if Beca had thought her cheeks couldn't get any redder, she would have been wrong. "We'll leave you to get changed now," Chloe said - rather abruptly, in all honesty - and left the room.

"I-it does look really good. On you," Aubrey muttered. The redness had gone all the way down to her neck. She turned her eyes down to her feet and exited the room as well.

Beca let out a slightly relieved breath, changing quickly just in case Chloe came up with another excuse to crawl into her dressing room. She left and joined Aubrey waiting outside, leaving her rejects on a rack for an employee to deal with. Chloe emerged from her dressing room and the three of them went up to pay (Beca had been right about Chloe wanting to pay, and she and Aubrey subtly teamed up to distract her while Beca paid for her own and then Aubrey did; they both laughed a little at Chloe's dismay when she realized she'd been tricked).

The drive to Chloe's house from the Target was about fifteen minutes, but it was more than enough time for Beca to remember why she was so nervous about all this. Judging by the way Aubrey's intense blush was gradually turning to a pale sort of green, the blonde was in the same boat. After Chloe parked and the three of them walked up to the front door she and Beca exchanged a vaguely panicked glance.

Chloe didn't even have to knock; the door flung open and a woman with the exact same color of hair appeared in the doorway, grinning excitedly. "Hey, honey!" she greeted, skipping the rest of the way forward to envelop Chloe in a tight looking hug. She released Chloe but continued to hold her at arm's length - they wore matching, large grins. "How was the drive? You're looking good - oh, it's so nice to have you home again!"

Giggling, Chloe said, "It was good, and it's nice to see you too, mama." She turned and gave a slight gesture to Aubrey and Beca standing a foot or so behind. Beca almost offered a little wave on autopilot, then thought better of it. "Mama, you know Aubrey, and this is Beca!"

"Aubrey, it's nice to see you," Mrs. Beale hummed contentedly, stepping past her daughter to give the blonde a big hug as well. "And Beca, I'm so glad I get to meet you!" she added. Beca let out a little gasp of surprise when she was _also_ pulled into a hug (it was just as bone-crushing as it looked) and she smiled sheepishly upon being released. "Come on in, you three. Oh, is there anything more specific I have to say?" she asked Beca.

"Uh," Beca stammered, "I, uh, sorta. It has to be more... personal, if that makes sense?"

Mrs. Beale smiled. "Of course. Come in, Beca. Welcome to our home. And Aubrey, this is your first time here as well, right? I can give you a quick tour, if either of you would like." Beca and Aubrey followed Mrs. Beale through the house briefly, then joined Chloe and a teenaged looking girl who was basically a smaller version of Chloe in the kitchen.

"This is my younger sister, Jazzlee," Chloe introduced.

"Hey, Aubrey! Nice to meet you, Beca. Chlo's told me quite a bit about you," Jazzlee said in form of a greeting, her eyebrows waggling. Her older sister gave her a slight shove and a fierce look she only giggled at.

Chloe rolled her eyes and turned to her mother. "Where's dad?"

"He'll be home from work in about an hour. Oh, and I was going to text you about this, but Peter will be getting here a bit later than he planned. Todd and his girlfriend will still be flying in tomorrow, if you want to take Jazz to pick them up," Mrs. Beale said.

"Yeah, cool," Chloe chirped. She walked around the island in the middle of the kitchen, smoothly squeezing in between Aubrey and Beca. "Peter and Todd are my older brothers," she whispered, almost conspiratorially. Then her voice picked up to a more normal level and she added, "We can just chill until my dad gets here. The pool's out back in case you guys want to get a head start on all that fun." She winked.

"Wow, Chlo, real subtle," Jazzlee snickered.

Chloe literally _growled_ at her, but their mother stopped them before they could get into a bigger spat. "That's enough, you two. Jazz, why don't you help your sister bring in all their luggage? Aubrey, Beca, the pool's just out here."

Trailing after Aubrey and Mrs. Beale to the back yard, Beca took a moment to take a handful of deep breaths she didn't explicitly _need_. Her nerves were running wild and she knew that if she still had a beating heart it would be pounding even further into overdrive right about now. Everything seemed to be happening faster than she expected. She thought Mrs. Beale would lay down a few ground rules for her, like she wasn't allowed to do certain things because she was a vampire - which she then realized was a _totally_ stupid thought. If Chloe had been raised by someone like _that_ she wouldn't be the way she actually is. Beca mentally berated herself for thinking, even for a second, that she would be treated so differently. Shaking her head, she roused herself from her thoughts, thankfully long before accidentally walking into the pool. She came to a stop beside Aubrey and subconsciously leaned closer to her, seeking her human warmth and just her general feel and smell.

"Well, this is it," Mrs. Beale chuckled, gesturing out to the pool. "Feel free to use it at any time. We've got a load of towels, umbrellas, and other pool toys in that big container over there against the wall."

"Thank you," Aubrey said, "and thank you for letting us stay here."

"Yeah, it... means a lot to me, Mrs. Beale," Beca tacked on.

"Oh, hush. You two are always welcome. Anyone who's as close to my daughter as the two of you are is basically part of the family," Mrs. Beale scoffed teasingly. "And Beca, I'll be honest with you - I'm excited to have met my first vampire! I'd love to learn more about your culture and just _you_. There are times when I feel I am woefully uneducated when it comes to vampires, and I'm afraid I've passed that on to my children."

"It's no problem - I mean, Chloe's been very cool about it," Beca stammered, nerves getting the better of her again. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Aubrey arch an eyebrow at her in an expectant kind of amusement. "I'm totally happy to answer any questions you may have. I've already answered a lot of hers and Aubrey's and I wouldn't mind doing it again. Besides, there's probably things I've forgotten to bring up." With that she felt a vague twinge of guilt; what if there was something she was forgetting to mention that was actually _important_? She supposed the potential mate thing went under that category. It wasn't quite like she could really bring that up, though. There were far too many complications to it...

"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Beale said kindly, interrupting her from her (still) gradually spiraling thoughts. "Come on, the two of you must be a bit drained from the drive. Dinner should be ready in about a half-hour. In the meantime, make yourselves at home."

Beca tried not to squirm too much as she sat down in the living room with Aubrey. The blonde seemed preoccupied enough by a book resting on the coffee table that she picked up, glancing at the back, and she looked far less nervous than Beca felt. It made sense; Aubrey had met this much of Chloe's family before. Beca couldn't help feeling a little envious that she was suddenly so calm while she felt like she was going to implode.

Chloe and Jazzlee returned from carrying all their things up to Chloe's room. Jazzlee practically ran over to the armchair placed close to the end of the couch Beca was sitting on, throwing herself on it and giving Beca an incredibly excited look. Her similarly red hair was a lot curlier than Chloe's and framed her face in crazy little spirals. "So you're _really_ a vampire? Mama always told us we'd be lucky if we ever met one in our lifetime. She said it would be more realistic if we met one and didn't even realize it! How much blood do you need to drink to keep going? Is it a lot? Do you _have_ to have human blood? Do-"

"Jazz, quit it! If you're gonna ask Beca a bunch of questions, at least don't just _bombard_ her with all of them at once," Chloe interrupted, baring her teeth for the briefest of seconds.

"I don't mind," Beca said with a small shrug. She turned back to Jazzlee with a patient smile; explaining these kinds of things to teenagers was something she was getting used to, since new vampires tended to be around this age by their time of turning. "Yes, I'm really a vampire, and yeah, we're really careful to not reveal ourselves, even to those who would be more likely to understand - like werewolves. One _full_ meal for a vampire is about ten pints of blood, because that's approximately how much blood is in the human body. We don't hunt humans much though because we don't want to get caught doing so, and we figure it'll make assimilation easier if we aren't going around, uh, killing people. So we hunt animals for blood, or there are certain hospitals we can get blood bags from."

Jazzlee eyes, blue like her sister's (and her mother's) but a darker shade, were wide with awe and excitement. "Whoa," she whispered. Her gaze suddenly darted over to Aubrey, who was sitting in the middle of the couch with a rather unreadable expression on her face. "Is this just as cool to you as it is to me, Aubrey? I mean we're both humans, so..." Jazzlee trailed off.

Aubrey shrugged lightly, hands toying with the hem of her shirt. "I suppose it is, but I've been getting more used to it. Just the other day I saw Chloe turn into a wolf the size of a bear, and I got to see Beca in her vampire form again, and-"

"Hold on!" Mrs. Beale hurried into the room and scowled at her older daughter. Chloe shrank back into her spot on the couch. "What was that about you turning into a wolf? We only do that when it's a forced turning, and it's obviously awhile until the next full moon! What on earth happened that got you to turn?" she asked, voice hitching up a worried, confused notch. She still had on a pair of oven mitts.

Chloe let out a whoosh of breath. "Um, well, mama... There's this kid at school, his name is Ned... apparently he's, like, the vampire _prince_... He walked by us and the Bellas the other day when we were outside and Fat Amy called him out for carrying an umbrella when the weather was so nice. He wouldn't leave after that and Aubrey sorta slapped him, and he got mad and tried choking her, so Beca and I kinda attacked him. I just bit him long enough to get him to release Aubrey and then he and Beca got into it a bit more. Eventually I, um, did have to allow myself to turn. Otherwise it would have really hurt me. Luckily Beca's sire showed up and she helped us sort things out a little bit," she explained in one long rush.

As she spoke Beca watched her mother's reactions playing out blatantly in her expression, changing very quickly to sheer surprise at the mention of Ned being a prince. For the most part she just looked weary - her eyes snapped up and down Aubrey as if searching for a single hair out of place - but then alarm filled her gaze at the mention of Beca's sire. Beca flinched a little and prepared herself for what would happen next, good or bad, though she genuinely expected it to be fairly good from what she knew Mrs. Beale was like already.

"Your sire?" she asked immediately when Chloe was done, settling her now calm gaze on Beca, though her brow was still furrowed.

Nodding furiously, Beca said, "I-I told her about Chloe before, because we're so close, and she doesn't mind. That day she really just wanted all of us to be safe. And you don't have to worry about Chloe, she didn't get hurt, and she certainly didn't get in trouble. Aubrey got hurt a little and for that I am _deeply_ sorry-" she shot Aubrey an apologetic look, barreling on before the blonde could so much as open her mouth to respond "-but everything turned out alright in the end. Ned was explicitly warned against threatening humans again and I will not be starting any more fights that could bring Chloe or Aubrey to harm."

Mrs. Beale smirked lightly. "You don't have to defend yourself to me, hun. I was just making sure to ask if your sire knew about Chloe - I don't want you getting in trouble, or any of this turning into something like _West Side Story_ or _Romeo and Juliet_." Chloe frowned and blushed a bright red, but she didn't say anything. Her mother continued, "If your sire ever needs to contact me, just let me know. And I'm happy to hear Aubrey wasn't too hurt. The nerve of - my apologies, I almost insulted your prince."

"Insult away," Beca scoffed. "None of the vampire community likes him, either."

"He is... interesting," Aubrey murmured, subconsciously rubbing her throat. The scarf she was wearing still hid the fading bruise from view, but Beca could tell in the way her eyes shimmered that she remembered that day with quite a bit of fear.

Beca cleared her throat a little, wanting to change the subject - not even necessarily for herself, just because Aubrey was starting to look pale again. "I know this might not be the most appropriate time, but... I did actually have some questions of m-my own," Beca said, faltering slightly. Both Chloe and her mother gave her little go-ahead nods. "I was just wondering... Well, I've taught myself about werewolves, so I don't think I have... clarifying questions, if that makes sense. I was just wondering, Mrs. Beale, if there's anything you would like to tell me specifically. I'm just - I'm just incredibly anxious about offending any of you," she admitted. Remnants of a dead blush warmed her skin a bit unpleasantly, and she had to force herself not to glance down at her hands in her lap. Mrs. Beale regarded her steadily - at least there were small hints of a smile curling at her lips. Chloe on the other hand was just giving her this _look_ full to the brim of care and affection that, for a second, Beca actually forgot all her doubts.

Mrs. Beale stepped forward to sit on the edge of the coffee table, slipping the oven mitts off her hands. "Beca, I want you to know that I'm very happy you've come to visit. That's not just because of how much you mean to Chloe, but because I was excited about the possibility to perhaps get rid of some of my ignorance when it comes to vampires. You don't have to worry one bit about offending us. We're just people - but we're also animals, and I think that helps us understand each other even more."

Releasing an unnecessary breath she didn't even know she was holding, Beca nodded. She was at a complete loss for words and she glanced to Chloe for help.

"Like I said earlier, if you feel uncomfortable you can tell us, because we'll be sure to tell you if you make _us_ feel uncomfortable," the redhead giggled. "We're all very open to each other so we'd love it if you felt you were able to be open with us."

"Exactly," Mrs. Beale said.

"And it's not like you're _surrounded_ by werewolves or anything," Jazzlee huffed, waving a hand and rolling her eyes. "Todd, dad and I aren't werewolves, so that's like half and half."

Beca found herself laughing lightly before she could stop herself. "That's true," she chuckled. "Thank you again for being so welcoming. I really appreciate it," she said, glancing back and forth between the three Beale's. Dimly she was aware of the way Aubrey was just sitting in silence, pressed back pretty far into the couch. Her expression was still pretty unreadable but Beca got the distinct feeling that she wasn't exactly... happy.

* * *

About halfway through their week staying with Chloe and her family, Beca found herself being jostled awake - daytime in general just made her sleepy, and when she was lying on a poolside chair with an umbrella shading her from the sun, it was all too easy for her to just fall asleep. She groaned a little and sat up to see Chloe sitting beside her, grinning.

"Sorry," Beca mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "I don't mean to fall asleep every time we come out here. It's just too easy."

"Don't worry about it," Chloe giggled. "I just thought maybe you'd like to join us," she added, gesturing back over her shoulder. Jazzlee and Peter were playing with a large, inflated ball while Todd and his girlfriend (Beca was pretty sure her name was Rose) sat on the edge of the pool, simultaneously giggling to each other while cheering on the game. Aubrey was nowhere to be seen.

Beca glanced around for any sign of the blonde, but found none. "Did Aubrey go inside?" she asked, frowning at Chloe in hopes of conveying her worry.

Chloe seemed to understand immediately; her cheery expression fell and she nodded, gaze faltering. "Yeah, she went up to my room to lie down... Have you noticed that she seems a bit... off? I thought she seemed fine the day we got here, but it's almost like she's been getting sadder and sadder. Even my mama was asking me earlier if she's alright."

"I dunno, Chlo, but I kinda don't think she is," Beca sighed. She paused, worrying her lower lip between her teeth in slight thought. "Do you want to go up and check on her with me? We should at least make sure she knows we're, like, here for her and all that..."

"Of course," Chloe said, nodding eagerly. "We'll be right back!" she called out to her family, to which her siblings hardly responding. Shrugging - mostly to herself - she led the way inside and up the stairs to her room. At first they just peeked in through the partially opened doorway; Aubrey was lying curled up on the bed, her back to the them. Chloe and Beca exchanged a swift, worried glance before entering. "Hey, Bree. How are you feeling?"

Aubrey turned over her shoulder in surprise, rolling the rest of the way around to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm fine," she said simply.

"You just seem really upset," Beca murmured, self-consciously crossing her arms over her chest to cover herself some. She'd sort of forgotten she was only wearing a swimsuit (and so was Chloe, but she really didn't need to distract herself with that right now).

"I said I'm fine," Aubrey snapped, staring down at her bare feet. "You two don't have to check on me. I can take care of myself."

Chloe scoffed. "We know _that_ , but that doesn't mean we're not here for you, Bree."

Finally looking up to glare at them, Aubrey crossed her arms as well, in a more angry way; her glare, however, wasn't as strong as it usually was. For the most part it was just sad and her lower lip jutted out a tiny bit in a pout. Beca thought she looked moments away from bursting into tears. "I know you're both here for me. You don't have to remind me. I just want to be left alone for a little bit - I've got a really bad headache," she said, not sounding all that convincing. _She_ didn't even look convinced with herself.

"Okay," Chloe half-sighed. "If you need anything - well, you know." She dejectedly left the room, not waiting to see if Beca followed. Instead of following the brunette stepped forward and sat beside Aubrey, making sure to put a comfortable distance between them.

"Is it just... being here?" she asked softly.

Aubrey scowled. "I don't know what you're talking about, Beca."

"You know, although it's been a _long_ time since I was a human, I can still recognize a lot of specific feelings in their eyes and the way they act. I can tell how upset you are. You look unsure, kinda like maybe you feel like you shouldn't be here." Beca paused, staring deep into Aubrey's eyes and fighting the surprisingly strong urge to just use her compulsion to get the blonde to talk about whatever was bothering her. "Please talk to me, Aubrey. I want to help."

"Just because you can _recognize_ feelings I might have doesn't mean you understand them!" Aubrey snapped. "And you're right, I _don't_ feel like I should be here. Everybody else is all used t-to werewolves and vampires and I'm just clueless and - I don't belong, Beca. Even _Rose_ gets it, because _she's_ an aca-freaking werewolf, too! It doesn't matter that Chloe's dad, Jazzlee and Todd aren't. They're still not like me because they've known about all this for so long. I've just been thrown into it." She threw her hands up in exasperation, a few tears sparking up in her eyes. "I probably wasn't even supposed to know at _all_! Why am I here?"

Although it sounded like she'd asked herself the question, Beca still answered. "Because you care about Chloe and I?" she said uncertainly. Aubrey gave her a "seriously?" look and she shied away. "Okay, maybe I don't really know how you feel, but-"

"Don't you dare say I'm not alone," Aubrey interrupted in a low voice that cracked near the end, a tear falling down her cheek, "because I am. I just am, okay?"

Beca's mind was racing. She wanted to make Aubrey feel better, because she honestly thought she _did_ know where the blonde was coming from when she said she was alone. Beca had felt the opposite of it before, being around a lot of humans and feeling like the odd-man-out, even if she was the only one aware of it. She was so desperate to just do _something_ that might help that - without really thinking about it - she moved forward and firmly planted her lips against Aubrey's, dimly registering the squeak of surprise she swallowed. For a second they were both fairly tense, then they both relaxed a little. Aubrey's lips were soft and warm, and Beca felt a tingle shoot up her spine. Her ears felt hot with... something... and she couldn't help feeling proud of herself for finally making a move.

But just as suddenly as the moment happened, it ended.

"Oh."

Chloe's voice from the doorway made them both jump apart - Beca accidentally moved so fast that she abruptly found herself on the other side of the room, stumbling into the dresser - and Aubrey blushed and paled drastically at the same time. "This - Chloe, this isn't what it looks like! Beca and I were just - neither of us meant to-..." She fumbled, standing and holding her hands up. Her mouth opened and closed once or twice as she prepared to try again, her eyes glancing quickly to Beca. "I-I can explain-"

"You don't have to," Chloe said dully. "I was just... never mind. I'll leave you two alone," she added, pitifully soft, turning to exit the room with her head hung low.

"Chloe, wait," Beca called, quickly moving after her, but it was no use. She used her own unnatural speed to get down the stairs before Beca was even out of the room; they heard the front door open and then shut loudly.

"What happened?"

She turned and saw Mrs. Beale coming down the hall, a concerned frown on her face. Dread flooded through her chest; how was she supposed to explain that she and Aubrey had very obviously hurt her daughter's feelings? A _lot_? Beca felt tears gathering in her own eyes recalling the sight of just how _devastated_ Chloe had looked, and she hated herself for losing her control like that. She hardly even registered Aubrey brushing past her to follow Chloe's footsteps to the front yard, but she shook her head. Now wasn't the time to start blubbering. She had to go with Aubrey and find Chloe. Ignoring Mrs. Beale repeating her question, she sped down the stairs to join the blonde out the front door. There was no sign of Chloe no matter where they looked. Beca had half a mind to just start running, then thought better of it. Aubrey would have a hard time following and she was pretty sure they should find Chloe together.

Aubrey swore loudly beside her, kicking at the well-manicured grass that made up the lawn in the front yard. Beca ran her hands through her hair and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to come up with a decent idea for how they could find Chloe. Her sense of smell was _good_ (nowhere near as good as a werewolf's) so they could at least follow that. She spun around and grabbed Aubrey by the upper arms.

"Hey! Now's not the time to - to freak out, we gotta go find her," she said.

"This is your fault!" Aubrey cried, yanking herself from Beca's grasp. "What the hell were you thinking? Why did - what-"

"I don't know! I just wanted you to feel better and I wasn't thinking," Beca interrupted, feeling a surge of anger that made her skin tingle in a way that she knew meant her emotions were seconds away from prompting her to change her form without even thinking about it. She tried not to feel any anger, and she ignored the hurt that came from Aubrey's blame. "Do you want to help me find her or not? I can follow her scent."

Glaring, Aubrey crossed her arms. Her eyes were a little red from holding back more tears although a few slipped past her defenses. She sniffled and muttered, "I don't think either of us should go after her. We should find her mom and tell her what happened so she can go find Chloe instead."

Beca opened her mouth to respond, but she noticed Todd and Peter were standing in the front doorway (which they'd left wide open) and shut herself up.

"You guys alright?" Todd asked. His voice was smooth and pleasantly deep. Like his sisters and mother his hair was that shocking red, and neatly trimmed. He still wore his swim trucks, and he crossed the yard to join Beca and Aubrey. Peter followed him; his hair was dark brown like his father's, not as short as his brother's, and he had some stubble on his face. They both had light brown eyes instead of blue.

"Did Chloe run off? I heard the door slam," Peter said, his voice very similar to Todd's; in all honesty they very well could have been mistaken for twins.

They were both very lean and muscled, something that made Beca arch an eyebrow each time they all spent some time in the pool. Still, now wasn't the time in the slightest. "Uh, yeah. We were maybe gonna follow her, but Aubrey thought maybe that wasn't a very good idea... since we're the reason she's upset," she replied lamely. She felt bad placing any sort of blame on Aubrey for this, so she quickly added, "I mean, _I'm_ the reason she's upset."

Peter smirked but also sort of frowned. "We'll go find her, don't worry." He gave his older brother's arm a tug and they walked off down the block.

Beca watched them go helplessly, aware of Aubrey's continued feelings of animosity towards her. She was okay with admitting that she'd pretty much fucked this up. It certainly wasn't how she'd planned on telling Chloe and Aubrey about the way she felt. What if her reckless decision had just torn all of them apart? Half-sighing, half-growling to herself, she sat down on the lawn to wait for Chloe's brothers to return, with or without Chloe.

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry this one's a bit long, but... ANGST.  
_

 _(and sorrynotsorry for throwing a bunch of OC's at ya in one chapter lol)_


	15. Chapter XV

**\+ XV +**

Aubrey watched Beca uncertainly. As much as she wanted to continue to be angry with the brunette, she couldn't stop herself from also being worried. Beca was sitting in full-on sun and already the vast (and uncharacteristic) expanse of skin she was showing was starting to look irritated. Gritting her teeth against saying something potentially cruel, she shuffled a bit closer to Beca in an attempt to shield her with her shadow as much as possible.

"You're going to burn yourself... or whatever happens when you're in the sun too long," she growled, nudging Beca with her knee.

"I'll be fine. I want to be right here if they bring Chloe back," Beca retorted stubbornly.

 _If..._ Aubrey thought uncomfortably, looking in the direction Chloe's brothers had gone in; they had just reached the end of the block, where they broke into a jog. Aubrey hoped they _would_ come back with Chloe. She wanted to talk to her about what had just happened between her and Beca - actually, before she talked to Chloe, she wanted to talk to _Beca_ about it.

She took a steadying deep breath and said very matter-of-factly, "Beca, I don't think I can say much of anything to Chloe about what just happened without figuring it out with you first. I don't care if you don't really want to talk about it, I think it's necessary that we-"

"I get it," Beca snarled, and Aubrey glanced down, unintentionally making eye-contact. Beca's eyes had changed to that sharp silver and Aubrey could just _barely_ see the tips of her fangs poking out of her mouth. She looked angry and just so slightly hurt. "I'm okay with that, but there's something I have to tell _both_ of you, and I'd like it more if I could tell you at the same time. So until they come back with Chloe all I'm gonna say is this: in the long-run, I don't think I'll regret kissing you. Right now, though, I'm sorry I just did it out of the blue and didn't even think about how Chloe would react if she found out. I was just being fucking stupid."

Aubrey scowled at the incredibly self-deprecating tone she took on, sitting down beside her despite thinking it would be smarter if she ran inside at least to grab an umbrella. "Why... ugh," she groaned, scrubbing her hands down her face. "I don't even know how to ask you this, because I don't think I'm going to get a straight answer."

"If you want to know _why_ I kissed you, that's really easy, but I'd rather tell you when Chloe gets back," Beca reiterated. She was staring straight ahead at the end of the block.

They sat in silence for a few moments, until Aubrey broke it with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry for how I've been acting. I'm just stressed about all this... and confused and... I don't even know. I'm not sure how I could coherently describe it. Either way, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry I put all the blame on you. It isn't like I... didn't... kiss back."

Beca glanced at her sideways. Her chest rose and fell like she was breathing, but no sound came out. "The reason I kissed you is because I like you," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" Aubrey laughed, unable to stop herself. "350 years old, and you're nervous to say you _like_ me?" The words suddenly sunk in and she felt like she was about to throw up from the sheer force of butterflies knocking around aggressively in her stomach. "Y-you like me?"

"Yes, Aubrey, I like you a lot, and I like Chloe the same way. I feel a very strong connection to you both and I want to be with you _both_ even if you're a human and Chloe is a werewolf." Beca shut her eyes tight and curled in on herself, pressing her forehead to her knees and hiding her face with a curtain of thick brown hair. "I wanted to tell you both at the same time. I wanted it to be after we all went out and had a nice time, or after a really nice day together, or something painfully corny like that. I sure as _hell_ didn't want _this_ to happen. I can't imagine what Chloe must be thinking now."

Aubrey's heart raced, thundering in her chest so hard she felt like she was about to pass out - if she didn't vomit just first. She took a few more deep breaths as quietly as she could; her entire body trembled so violently she wasn't sure she'd be able to move if she tried. "B-Beca, I-"

"Are you two okay?" Mrs. Beale interrupted her, and she turned to see the older woman coming outside with Mr. Beale, Jazzlee and Rose on her heels.

"Peter suddenly dragged Todd away from the pool with no explanation," Rose said. She was pretty, with dark hair that reached all the way down to her waist. Aubrey actually liked talking to her despite being overwhelmed by the fact that she was _also_ a werewolf, and if she forgot about how upset she'd been feeling.

Struggling to come up with a response, Aubrey felt like she was about to cry. Luckily Beca saved her from having to speak. "Chloe ran off so her brothers went to find her," the brunette explained dully, turning over her shoulder. Her eyes remained silver. The others all obviously noticed, and Aubrey saw Rose stiffen. She was ever so slightly less okay with Beca being there, even if she had an open mind. Still, it was all pretty new to her - Aubrey supposed she understood in some senses, but seeing Rose act so cautiously around Beca angered her to a surprising degree. Obviously Beca could take care of herself, Aubrey still just felt... protective.

"What happened? All three of you looked like you were crying upstairs," Mrs. Beale said.

"Let's not interfere too much in the girls' personal matters," Mr. Beale interjected softly, standing behind his wife and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"It's alright," Aubrey said softly, though she immediately regretted opening her mouth, because now she felt for some reason like she needed lie. "Chloe just got very upset and we couldn't stop her from running off. I thought it would be best if maybe we didn't go after her, so Peter and Todd offered to instead."

Mrs. Beale smiled sympathetically. "Chloe does have a bit of a tendency to run off when she's _particularly_ upset, but it has been awhile since the last time she did this, I think. If you two are planning on waiting out here for her I'll run and grab an umbrella."

They all dispersed after her - Aubrey distinctly caught Jazzlee shoot them an unreadable look that gave her pause, and she wondered (oddly) if the youngest Beale knew something she didn't - and Aubrey turned back to Beca. The brunette was already looking worse; her skin was turning red and blistered, and she was scratching at her arms and legs every few moments. She was squinting hard and all around just looking like she was incredibly uncomfortable. Aubrey sighed a little and slipped out of the button-up shirt she was wearing over her tank top, tossing it over Beca's head and shoulders. That would at least provide her with some protection while they waited a few moments longer for Mrs. Beale to come back out.

"Thanks," Beca muttered.

Aubrey didn't respond. She would admit she was distracted. Beca had just told her she _liked_ her, and there was still no sign of Chloe and/or her brothers. She realized she hadn't really said much about Beca's admission of feelings and felt a flash of guilt, but what would she say? Just... yes? Because, _yes_ , she did like Beca back, and she liked Chloe, too. It all felt sort of childish to phrase it like that. Why were her feelings suddenly so much more... complex? She knew how she felt and yet her tongue was tied and she couldn't say anything about it to Beca.

Luckily they didn't have to wait much longer for Todd and Peter to show up again; they jogged back down the block, Todd relatively out of breath. "We didn't find her..." he huffed.

"Her scent trail just randomly went cold," Peter snarled, hazel eyes bright. "Like she got into a car or something. I gotta say, I'm really worried. There were a few droplets of blood on the pavement right where her scent ran out and I've got a real sick feeling it's hers."

Beca and Aubrey leapt to their feet simultaneously, Beca tossing the umbrella aside. "So what are you saying? She was _kidnapped_?" she snapped.

"That's just what it looks like, pipsqueak," Peter said - "pipsqueak" had very quickly become his nickname for Beca, and although she didn't seem to mind it at all, right now her eyes narrowed in distaste. "Before you go all _Blade_ and run off to hunt her down, I think we should consider calling the police first. That is, if I still won't be able to find her. I'm gonna take mama and Rose and try again. You can come too if you want." He didn't wait for a response and moved quickly into the house. Todd followed him in much more slowly.

"We have to go find her," Beca snarled suddenly, whirling on Aubrey. "I don't care if maybe she really won't want to see us. I don't like how this is looking."

"Let's wait, Beca, _please_. I know you're upset - I am too - but we have to go about this logically. If she really was... kidnapped... then we'll have to let the police find her," Aubrey said, grabbing Beca by the wrist and stopping her before she could hurry inside, although she knew it wouldn't matter if Beca just decided to drag her along or yank herself away. Anxiety was increasing her already-there nausea and she had to swallow a few times around a lump in her throat. "Look, I can tell it's going to be difficult for you to accept that it would just be _easier_ if we let law enforcement handle this, so I promise that if they do get involved and they don't find her after twenty-four hours, we'll go out together. We _should_ work together, if anything."

Beca unexpectedly softened, her silver eyes losing most of their angry quality, and she smiled; her fangs poked out just a bit more and Aubrey felt an interesting, electric chill shoot through her entire body. "Aubrey, you don't have to promise that," Beca murmured.

"Yes, I do. If I don't go with you you're just going to get into some sort of trouble. Now let's just go inside and wait. You really don't look good."

* * *

By 9:30 the next morning, the police were involved. Well, at the very least, they'd been alerted - Mr. and Mrs. Beale had little concern for the twenty-four hour waiting period required before reporting a missing person. There had been no luck finding Chloe yesterday, regardless of how good Mrs. Beale, Peter, and Rose's senses of smell were. The police had confirmed that it looked like there had been a struggle where her trail had gone cold, and they said they would be asking around the neighborhood and see what they could find out. Fortunately enough, Mr. Beale's best friend worked with the police, and he and his partner were able to put aside time to (sort of unofficially) start the search before the waiting period was up.

Part of Aubrey was something close to content with just watching how everyone else was reacting to all this; it made her feel like she could better handle herself. Mrs. Beale soon started panicking and crying, and Jazzlee was acting surprisingly mature as she comforted her mother. Todd and Peter seemed mostly angry, Todd being the more level-headed of the two. For the most part, though, it was as if he'd just shut down. He hardly spoke, and if he did it was just to tell Peter to sit down, since he was mostly pacing around the living room.

Then there was Beca. Thinking back on how she'd acted after her fight with Ned, Aubrey could tell she was really having trouble keeping herself in check and not changing into her vampire form. Aubrey didn't understand it much, so she didn't know how to help, or really if Beca would be able to stay in her human form for much longer. Part of her figured the brunette didn't want to turn because it might be insulting to Chloe's family; the rest of her thought it more likely that she was desperately trying to keep herself under control before she did something without thinking it through first. Who knew, if Aubrey wasn't there to watch over her, Beca might have totally lost her cool a lot sooner.

To Aubrey, it didn't seem like there was much they could do but wait. At the same time, it made her sick to think that Chloe was out there _somewhere_ , possibly even fighting for her life. Aubrey hadn't been able to keep down any food since the evening before. She felt bad, since it was part of Mrs. Beale's nature to be concerned, and the older woman was incredibly worried about how she wasn't eating. The same went for Beca. The blisters she'd gotten from being out in the sun too long were still healing, which Aubrey could tell was a bit odd. After all, she'd seen Beca heal very quickly before, after her fight with Ned. She realized (now, of all times) that there was still a lot she didn't know about vampires or werewolves.

Aubrey went to bed a full day after Chloe's disappearance with a raging headache and very little hope that she would be able to fall asleep. She knew Beca would stay up almost regardless, mostly because it was what she was used to. The police were now fully on the job of finding Chloe, but that didn't exactly make her feel a lot better. Surprisingly, though, almost the second her head hit the pillow (it smelled like the shampoo Chloe used, and tears ran rapidly down her cheeks before she could even register them) she was out like a light.

It didn't last long. She felt someone shaking her, and opened her eyes to total darkness. Just barely she could see Beca's outline hovering over her. "Wh-what?" she mumbled, voice thick with sleep. Beca leaned back so she could sit up.

"I know it hasn't been twenty-four hours since the police got involved, but I think it's about time we took matters into our own hands," Beca growled, her fangs glinting in the awfully minimal light. Honestly, the only reason Aubrey knew it was her was because of the way her silver eyes glowed strongly in the dark. She reached over and turned on the lamp by Chloe's bed; her phone was in her hand, and she unlocked it with a swipe of her thumb, showing the screen to Aubrey. It was a text from an unsaved number.

 _ **This is Ned. I've got ur lovely lil redhead. We're gonna meet somewhere cool, like in the movies, & in return 4 MAYBE sparing her life, ur gonna give me whatevr I want.**_

"I don't know what the little _prick_ has in mind, but he's gone too far," Beca snarled. "Come on, get dressed. We're going to meet him as soon as he sends an _actual_ location."

Aubrey didn't need any more convincing. She leapt out of bed and haphazardly dressed as quickly as she could, careful not to be too loud - the bedside clock read 1:12 in the morning. She didn't really think Mr. or Mrs. Beale would want them to go out alone at this time, and she wasn't sure whether or not Beca would want them to know it was _her_ prince who kidnapped Chloe. Making sure she had her own phone and car keys she turned off the light, then followed Beca out into the hallway and down the stairs. They very quietly went through the front door, and Aubrey got into the driver's seat of her car.

"Okay, we need to come up with a game plan," she whispered. Her hands shook and she dropped her keys twice before getting them in the ignition and starting the car, speeding off to the end of the street so as to not give any of the inhabitants of the house time to wake up and come out to see what was going on.

Beside her, Beca looked incredibly tense, but she remained in her human form. She glanced down anxiously at her phone. "He'll come up with an actual place to meet eventually... then we just go there and get Chloe," she murmured.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "That isn't really thinking ahead. What if he has other vampires with him to make sure this goes exactly how he wants it to? I'm not about to let you get hurt, Beca. And, honestly, how much can we really trust Ned? Just because he _said_ he has Chloe doesn't necessarily mean he'll _bring_ _her with_. He could very well be lying and then what would we do? We'd be totally vulnerable." She turned right, going in the direction of a coffee shop she knew was nearby. If they were going to have to wait for Ned to send them a meeting place then she was damn well going to have some coffee to wake herself up some more. She needed to be mentally sharp and prepared for anything that might happen.

Growling lowly, Beca sneered at nothing in particular. "Alright, I get what you're saying. So we... we wait until we actually _see_ Chloe, then we can meet up with them. You know, like we can get to the place as early as possible and stake it out, then hide and wait for Ned to show up so we can try to have the upper-hand," she huffed. "He isn't _that_ smart, Aubrey. I can't believe he could have orchestrated this all on his own."

"All the more reason to suspect he _isn't_ doing this on his own," Aubrey sighed. She parked in front of the little cafe and turned her car off. "I'm going to get some coffee. Do you want anything?" Beca shook her head no so she grabbed her emergency cash (she hadn't really thought to bring her wallet) and got out of the car.

It was just one of those "open 24/7" cafes, so it had a bit of the same feeling as an always open fast food place. The lights were harsher and it was a fairly tight space. Aubrey ordered and stood back, gazing out the front windows. She wasn't entirely sure why - other than the obvious - but she had a really bad feeling. It didn't sit well with her to think that it was all Ned's fault that Chloe suddenly went missing; someone else really had to be behind all this, because she knew Beca wasn't sugar-coating it when she said Ned wasn't the brightest. She looked at Beca, sitting in the car, as best she could through the dark. The brunette's eyes continued to glow and Aubrey smirked. It faltered quickly, though. She knew Beca was strong, and part of that was due to her age, but Aubrey was just... Aubrey. She didn't have any particular skills other than what she'd been working on in her academics to become a lawyer, and of course there was her singing voice - but none of that would really help in a _fight_. Relying on Beca so heavily made her uncomfortable; what if something happened and Beca got really hurt? They'd pretty much just be screwed. Sighing lightly, she turned at the sound of her order being called out, thanked the barista, and exited the cafe.

As she stood beside her car she noticed something odd, and she looked over at the other side of the parking lot. For a second she thought she saw two dark red dots out of the corner of her eye, but now that she looked, there was nothing there. Scowling, she got back into the car. Beca frowned at her and she shook her head. They got back on the main road.

"Any word from Ned?" Aubrey sighed, taking a sip of her Americano.

"No... maybe he's waiting for the top of the hour or something. Who _knows_ what the hell he thinks he's-" She was interrupted by a chime from her phone, and if Aubrey had blinked at the same moment she wouldn't even have seen her unlock it and bring it up to her face. "It's him," she snarled. "He says there's this really old movie theater that's gonna be torn down soon, but right now it's empty. He sent the address... I'll get the rest of the directions, hold on."

Aubrey swallowed. She felt sweaty. Perhaps the coffee hadn't been the best idea; it churned around in her stomach and she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep it down. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, and she realized she was driving well under the speed limit. Cars were passing her, and there weren't even that many on the road at this time to begin with. _Get it together_ , she chastised herself. _At the very least you can provide a get-away car for Beca and hopefully Chloe... and maybe your "lawyer skills" can help us avoid a total confrontation_. She scoffed under her breath and scowled.

"Turn left at this light - hey, are you okay?" Beca said, and Aubrey glanced over to see her eyes had suddenly changed to that steel blue, and they swam in worry.

"What do you mean?"

"You just look really upset again... but I have a feeling it isn't about all this."

Turning left, Aubrey offered her a non-committal shrug. "I just don't feel like I'm going to be all that helpful, other than to provide a car," she muttered.

"You have negotiation skills. The second I see Ned I'm not going to be able to think so straight, I'm so angry, but I know you'll be there to reign me back in and basically be the one who talks. That's _super_ helpful, Aubrey. With you coming maybe we can avoid a big fight," Beca said softly, and Aubrey felt her hand on her thigh. The contact - innocent enough - prompted a bright blush and she cleared her throat. After the kiss, touching in any sort of way suddenly felt like it had a whole new meaning. And it kind of did.

 _Focus_ , she thought, briefly closing her eyes even though she was driving. "I - alright. It's just... this is kinda really intense. I don't know about you, but I've never been involved with kidnapping negotiations." She paused; they'd pulled up to a red light. Her left foot tapped the floor anxiously. "What do you think Ned is going to want?"

"I honestly don't know," Beca half-sighed, half-groaned, running a hand through her hair - Aubrey nearly missed the light turning green. "He's the prince, so he's got all the money he could want... Maybe he just wants to feel like he has control over me. I dunno. Whatever his intentions are, I bet they aren't well thought out at all. He probably didn't even think he'd get this far. We're gonna take a right at this next light, by the way. Then another left, and it'll be on the right - but maybe go past it and we'll find parking a little ways away."

Aubrey followed the directions, glancing at the old theater as they passed it. There were a bunch of signs plastered over the ticket booth and some of the windows warning against entry, and everything was boarded up. "I feel like we're in a horror movie and an action movie at the same time," she huffed, finding a spot to park a few blocks up. Beca snorted and they got out of the car; Aubrey hardly had a moment to look around before the brunette grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her off in the direction of the theater, sticking to the opposite side. Before they reached it Beca ducked into a small alleyway and stopped to gaze up at the building in front of them. Aubrey got the bad feeling she was going to propose they go up to the roof.

"If we get up to the roof, we can look down at the theater. Scope out the scene and all that," she said quietly, glancing over her shoulders.

Aubrey almost sighed. "How are we going to get up there?"

Instead of answering, Beca stepped closer to her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Aubrey unintentionally let out a soft gasp, hands going to rest on Beca's shoulders automatically. She gazed down at the brunette in confusion - then she felt her feet lift off the ground a bit, and the next thing she knew Beca was jumping up to the top of the building. She gently set Aubrey down and approached the edge, crouching so as to not be seen. Aubrey shook herself mentally and once again reminded herself to get a grip, joining Beca at the edge of the roof. They kneeled down and peered at the opposite sidewalk below; there wasn't much way of telling whether or not Ned (and potentially a whole ton of other vampires) was already there, waiting for them. Aubrey figured it would just be best if she followed Beca's lead.

Beca's phone chimed, and she pulled it out, checking the message and also putting it on silent. "He says he'll be here at two. That gives us about a half-hour to get a lay of the land and maybe even ambush him the second we see Chloe." She shifted her stance a little; her eyes were silver again and Aubrey could just barely see in the very early morning light that her fingers ended in claws. "Wait here, I'm going to see if there's an easy way in and check out what the inside looks like. Text me if you see a suspicious car pull up or anything," she whispered, wasting no time in hopping right over the edge of the roof.

Clamping a hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying out, Aubrey looked down to the sidewalk, partially expecting to see Beca's mangled body below her. Instead, she watched as the brunette dashed across the street and vanished into the darkness surrounding the entrance to the theater. She let out a shuddering breath.

With her phone in hand, Aubrey gazed down at the street. There was literally no traffic, the night was still, and the dark seemed excessive. She glanced up at the moon. It would be a decent while until the next full one, so if Ned really had kidnapped Chloe, he at least had some leeway time before he would have to deal with a full-fledged werewolf. Not that he knew that. Aubrey kept her eyes locked to the entrance of the theater, waiting for Beca to reemerge. She didn't particularly like sitting up on this roof all by herself, and she was also worried about how quickly the brunette would be able to get out of the theater if Ned came sooner than expected. It was now 1:47. Since he had set up the meeting, Ned was probably on his way.

A bit of movement caught her eye, and she looked down the sidewalk a bit to see a lanky, hunched over figure, walking purposefully towards the theater. They were alone.

Aubrey quickly unlocked her phone and opened her messaging app. _**Someone's approaching the theater, looks like Ned - he's alone.**_

 _ **He's going inside. Where are you?**_

She put it on silent, knowing that if any vampires were nearby they would hear her phone go off. Hell, maybe they'd even hear it vibrate. Paranoia was really starting to set in and Aubrey had half a mind to figure out how to get off the roof herself and go see what was taking Beca so long, but she thought better of it.

1:53.

Where was Beca?

2:00.

Aubrey shivered; still no sign of Beca coming back out. She let out an angry huff and looked around the roof for a way down. It wasn't high enough from the ground for it to need a fire escape ladder, but at least there was a door that led down. Now she just needed it to be unlocked, or else she _really_ didn't know how she'd get to the theater; waiting to be discovered didn't sound appealing either, since that would mean waiting until morning.

She tried the door. Locked. Of course, nothing could be easy. She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and tried texting Beca again.

 _ **Where are you?! I'm super worried. Do you see Ned?**_

 _ **...Beca, seriously, this isn't funny.**_

 _ **BECA. RESPOND. NOW.**_

"Shit," she hissed - she wasn't even typically one to swear, but now seemed like an appropriate time. It was now 2:16. She went back to the edge of the roof and searched for any signs of _anyone_ , be it Beca or Ned or literally just someone she could shout at. If she _really_ got desperate, though, she'd probably just call the police.

The theater was just as dark and still as it had been minutes ago.

Then she heard something. It sounded like a boot crunching down on dirt or gravel - and it was right behind her. Her heart jumped in her throat and she whirled around in a panic, desperately hoping it was just Beca and only having time to register a pair of glowing, dark red eyes before a strong pair of arms pushed her at the shoulders. She practically flew backwards and the backs of her legs hit the edge of the roof; her arms flailed, and she was suddenly falling, wind rushing past her ears. It was a short fall. She both heard and felt herself hit the sidewalk, resulting in a resounding _crack_ , and her vision immediately went black.

* * *

 _A/N: Don't worry, Aubrey doesn't die. There will be NO main character deaths.  
_

 _Also, I noticed with putting up chapter 14 that I was getting less reviews and stuff... if y'all are losing interest then idk how I feel about finishing this. I do have the next two chapters written though, but seriously, as a writer I really appreciate support and helpful criticism. I'm not saying I'm not going to continue this - just that, if you guys are still enjoying this story, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. And to those of you who did review (special s/o to Thelonewolf06 and wordmaker123) thank you so much for your continued support!  
_

 _I love you all. Thank you for sticking with me this far._


	16. Chapter XVI

_A/N: Warning: his chapter mentions/briefly describes waterboarding.  
_

* * *

 **\+ XVI +**

"Helllloooooo!? If someone doesn't let me out of here _right now_ , I'm really going to get angry, and trust me when I say you _do not_ want that!"

Chloe kicked against what she was pretty sure was the door to the room she was in; there was absolutely no light, so she couldn't quite tell.

When she first woke up here (wherever _here_ was) she had thought it was a joke - like her brothers were playing a really nasty trick on her. But then she remembered what had happened. She'd been upset when she walked in on Beca and Aubrey kissing, understandably, but as she walked she realized that the situation was pretty 50/50. Either Beca and Aubrey liked each other, in which case she would continue to feel _incredibly_ hurt, or they liked each other _and_ her. It felt a bit like a long-shot, but if she really wasn't imagining the connection of a potential mate in both of them then she rationalized with herself that maybe it wasn't too bad they had been kissing. At the very least, it might get Aubrey out of her comfort zone enough for her to admit any feelings she had. Besides, just because she saw them kissing didn't mean whoever hadn't initiated it was reciprocating - although it'd certainly _looked_ like they were both into it. Either way, Chloe had figured it would be smarter to go back home and just _talk_ to Beca and Aubrey instead of literally running away.

That was when the car had pulled up. It was very nondescript, just a black Sedan, and she hadn't expected two _huge_ dudes to jump out and suddenly grab her. She would have put up more of a fight if one hadn't slammed his fist into the side of her face. After that she woke up in the trunk of a car - presumably the black Sedan - with duct tape around her wrists and ankles, and over her mouth. The side of her face felt a bit sticky with dried blood. At one point the trunk had been opened, and all she saw was the same two dudes before she'd been knocked out again. Then she woke up in this totally dark room.

It was pretty small, about ten by twelve feet - she made a rough estimate by counting footsteps as she brushed her fingers against the walls. She had no clue how high up the ceiling was, so maybe there were windows, but they were blocked really well. In one corner (although now it was more in the middle of the room since she had pushed it out of the way) was a thin, springy mattress she supposed she was expected to sleep on. Therefore she honestly had _no_ idea how much time had passed since she was thrown in here - minutes, hours, days, maybe even _weeks_. It was a lot like a sensory deprivation tank, based on what she knew about them. She couldn't hear anything except her own voice when she talked; she obviously couldn't see anything; the only thing she could really do was sniff around. There was the smell of concrete, and it seemed ever so slightly damp, and unsurprisingly the mattress smelled really awful. Other than that... nothing. Absolutely nothing.

She hadn't eaten once since being here, which told her it couldn't have been _too_ long. Being part animal and a werewolf no less, she needed to consume a lot of energy. If it had been more than, say, two and a half days, she wouldn't be able to move around like she was. Her rumbling stomach still told her it'd been long enough for her to get hungry.

"Okay, Chloe," she said out loud, not quite whispering but not speaking at a normal volume either. To break through the painful silence she'd been thinking aloud. "So, you don't know where you are. That's cool. You don't know who brought you here. That's cool, too. You haven't been hurt too bad. That's... actually the only cool thing about this."

Was whoever brought her here just going to starve her? Dehydrate her? She couldn't really go too long without both food and water, and she got the feeling that if she was kept in a small, dark room forever she would just go crazy. At the very least this was bound to make her claustrophobic. Still, she had to think this through, try to deduce the possibilities for why she'd been brought here and how she could maybe get out. What she supposed the door was didn't have a handle, so there was probably only one way out.

Catching whoever kidnapped her off guard.

"Who would want to do this? Well, my best bet is honestly a vampire - more specifically, it's bound to be Ned. He doesn't like Beca and I'm closely associated with her, so he can't like me too much either," Chloe murmured, pacing the length of the room. "If it isn't vampires, then maybe I have a creepy stalker. A really bold stalker, really. But what kind of stalker hires two really buff guys to do all the hard work?" She made her way towards the mattress, feeling with her toes - she was still in the swimsuit she'd been in when she ran out of her house. When she felt it she kneeled down and gingerly crawled on top of it, curling into a ball. "Maybe it's even someone from my own community... not to be really mean to Rose, but maybe she just didn't like the idea of me being so close to Beca, so she called someone... No, not Rose. She's such a sweetie, and Todd knows better than to date a person like that."

She sighed heavily; she was impatient at the best of times, and even though she figured she hadn't been here for too much more than a day, she was _already_ feeling a little like she had cabin fever or something. The small room felt cramped, even more so in the dark, and not only was her mind working too fast for her to feel like she could fall asleep but the mattress was so thin she might as well just be lying directly on the concrete.

Suddenly, a tiny sound met with her sharp ears. She sat up quickly and honed in on it, coming from the direction of what she guessed was the door. It sounded like footsteps in a hallway, and they were getting closer... When they reached the door there was the sound of metal scraping on metal, and a hatch at the very bottom of the door was lifted up, letting in a painfully bright sheet of light. Chloe squinted against it and watched as a plate was shoved through the hatch; then it was shut, and darkness conquered the entirety of the room again.

"I guess I can rule out death by starvation..." she huffed, crawling over to the plate, feeling for it with her hands outstretched. She hadn't been given any silverware so she ate it all by hand, getting the sense that she was really just being treated like an animal. She felt dirty and, well, trapped. Unfortunately she wasn't provided with any water and she crawled back to the mattress with a dry mouth and the not-so-good aftertaste of hardly cooked, unseasoned steak. Being part wolf she was able to eat raw meat, but it wasn't like she chose to very often, especially not since she was used to the luxury of not having to hunt whenever she turned.

After lying on the mattress for awhile, deep in thought, she crawled back over to where she'd left the empty plate by the door. The hatch had opened outwards, so maybe she could push it and get a vague look into the hall. It was really her only idea at the moment.

The hatch did open, and she was nearly blinded by the light, though she adjusted to it quickly. It wasn't even that strong. Pressing her cheek to the cold concrete, she edged as close to the opening as she could. The hall outside was dull, probably what her room looked like, just with weak, bare bulbs on the ceiling. On either side she couldn't see anything so it didn't seem like she had a guard, although she was sure that could change at any given moment - certainly if she made herself out to be a troublemaker.

So there was a question to pose: did she want to go with the flow and not be stubborn and bitter about her current situation, or did she want to produce trouble wherever she could?

Honestly, she kind of wanted the latter.

She let the hatch fall back into place, not caring that it made a fairly loud sound, and moved back to the mattress. Whoever brought her here would probably confront her sooner or later - they couldn't just keep her in this room, occasionally feeding her, without even letting her know _why_ she was here, could they?

* * *

Well, they could certainly keep her in the dark (literally) long enough to feed her two more times without doing _anything_ else. She even tried talking to whoever brought her food, to no avail. They just ignored her. Impatience getting the better of her, Chloe returned to the hatch and angrily pushed it open. Only her arms would fit through, and she was stopped at the shoulders, but at least this way there was a better chance her captors would hear her when she shouted and demanded to know what the aca- _hell_ was going on.

"Hello?! Whoever brought me here, I demand some _answers_! You can't just keep me here forever! I bet that, no matter how long I've been here already, my parents have already gotten the police involved! They have connections! They'll find me!" she shouted as loud as she could, voice a bit strained from not going over a certain volume for awhile.

Snarling to herself, she thrust her hand out, desperate to do _something_. To her surprise she heard hurried footsteps approaching, followed by a disgruntled voice barking, "Hey!" A heavy looking boot appeared in her line of vision for a second before it stomped down _hard_ on her hand, and she yelped. The boot held her in place. "Shut your mouth, you brat! What do you think you're doing, huh? Think you're gonna crawl out through here? Fuckin' werewolves... you'd think they'd actually be kinda smart, 'cause dogs are smart, but no. Just clueless little runts chasing their tails." The voice was gruff and definitely male. Chloe tried to tug her hand out from underneath his boot and only caused herself a little more pain.

"Get your foot off me!" she snapped. "Who are you? How do you know I'm-"

"Shut _up_!" the man snarled, and she quieted, pursing her lips in frustration. He lifted his foot up and she quickly retracted her hand back through the hatch, rubbing at it. At least it didn't feel broken. She heard the jingle of keys, the click of a lock, then the door was being opened. Her mind told her body to go into action despite not having the slightest plan, but she was thwarted within seconds of standing. The man kneed her in the stomach, knocking the breath from her, and she doubled over with a wheezy groan.

The man scoffed, grabbing her by the hair to hoist her to her feet and then wrenching her arms behind her back. He handcuffed her, making them so tight the metal bit into her skin. Turning her in the direction he'd come up the hall, he gave her a light shove, leading her away from the room without bothering to shut the door.

She took in as much of her surroundings as she could. To her, whatever building she was in seemed a lot like a warehouse, but she couldn't be too sure. Even for a warehouse it already looked _gigantic_. Maybe it was a castle? If she'd been kidnapped by vampires, that didn't seem like too big of a stretch (although it felt a little stereotypical). But if it _was_ a castle, it was fairly modern. They passed through another hallway or two before reaching some curving stairs, all of it the same damp smelling concrete and bare bulb lighting. At the top of the stairs they emerged into what looked like an office, filled with a plethora of filing cabinets and bookcases lining one wall. One of the cases was protruding outward, and Chloe was taken through it; the man guiding her, whom she recognized as the guy who hit her more than once during her kidnapping, shut it after them. They were in another office now, this one a bit more cozy looking, just perhaps unused. A thin layer of dust covered everything, but at least Chloe's bare feet now walked on carpet, and the cold seeping in through the concrete diminished.

Out of the office, the walls and floor turned to wood, and one long rug covered the hallways. There were so many, twisting and curving around, that she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to make it back through without getting lost. Finally they approached a pair of grand double doors; the man took her through them into a dining hall. One giant, long table was situated in the middle of the room, with high-backed chairs lining each side and one placed at each head. Another man, not one she recognized, stood beside the chair at the closest end. It was obvious someone sat there - she could hear the clink of silverware against a plate, and even spied a glass of water on the table - but she couldn't see any hint of who it was. The chair obscured every angle. All Chloe could really see was the person's long, pale, dark-skinned arms.

The man yanked her to a stop, kicking the back of her leg so she was forced onto her knees with a soft grunt. She felt her face heat up in embarrassment, partially due to the fact that she was still wearing her swimsuit. Gritting her teeth, she reminded herself not to speak. Even if this wasn't Ned, though she assumed (and kind of hoped) it was, she knew better than to open her mouth right now.

The person at the chair brought their right hand up to beckon the man standing beside them closer, and he bent down. Chloe heard whispered words, but not well enough to know what was being said, or to discern whether or not the voice sounded more male or female. The man straightened and cleared his throat a little. "First and foremost, we would like to know if you would be more comfortable in other clothes," he said, tone surprisingly kind. He wasn't like the guy who'd brought Chloe up from the room; while that dude had a rough grip and was totally stacked, with a mean, sharp face, this man was a bit shorter and much leaner. His black (possibly dyed) hair was slicked back, a few strands of gray showing. His features were softer.

"Um..." Chloe stammered, caught off guard. "Y-yes, I would very much appreciate something else to wear."

Nodding, this man looked past her to the other one. "Gus, would you please make sure that's all settled? Thank you," he said. Chloe refrained from glancing over her shoulder to watch the big guy - Gus, apparently - leave, but she heard him. The doors opened and shut quietly.

 _Okay, this is getting a little weird_ , Chloe thought, shifting her weight a little. She knew better than to attempt to stand, even if this man was already being a lot nicer than Gus. Still, she wanted answers, and the only way to get them was to be brave. "Why am I here? What do you guys think you're doing, keeping me in a dark room in the basement of - whatever this place is?" she snarled. She'd ask later how they knew she was a werewolf. As far as she knew, there was no way Beca had told Ned. Why would she?

"Your confinement status has been discussed, and you will be taken somewhere else," the man said. He had his hands clasped behind his back and he was wearing a suit. A butler, perhaps? "I'm afraid I cannot explain to you why you are here, but I can assure you very little harm will come to you as long as you're here with us."

Chloe bit her lip against a retort - "very little harm" didn't sound as nice as a simple "no harm" would have - and swiftly glanced around the dining room. There were a few windows lining the wall to her left, all made out of stained glass, so not a lot of light came through. She watched as the hand came up again to beckon the man close, and he leaned over. A few more hushed words were given and Chloe tensed her muscles. If she could, she'd wait until he was distracted again, then try to attack him (just jumping through the windows, her initial thought, was incredibly stupid - she needed to know how high up from the ground she was first). She'd see who exactly she was dealing with and go from there.

The man straightened again and offered her a tight, yet somehow still kind smile. "We know you would probably like to leave here-" Chloe couldn't help it, she let out a scoff and rolled her eyes "-but trust us when we say this is for the greater good. After all, Beca Mitchell's and Aubrey Posen's safety relies heavily on your compliance and submission."

At the mention of both Beca's _and_ Aubrey's names, Chloe stiffened, scowling and narrowing her eyes at this man who had the _gall_ to threaten _either_ of them. He arched an eyebrow as if daring her to say something. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

With a light huff, he stepped away from the chair to stand before her and help her to her feet. "My name is Jonathon. I will be at your disposal while you stay here, as will my sister, Lacy. Come with me, please." He gently placed his hand on her elbow and led her back through the doors; Chloe scowled back over her shoulder at the mystery person still calmly eating away at the table. She got the sneaking suspicion it wasn't actually Ned. He wouldn't waste the opportunity to gloat and be annoying.

She was taken through more hallways, until eventually coming into a grand entry room. The ceiling arched up high and there was a giant staircase leading to a landing that branched off into two other staircases, leading up to the left and right. On the other end was what were obviously the front doors. Two guards were stationed on either side. Based on how pale and not very lively everyone she'd so far seen looked, Chloe at least knew she was definitely being held by vampires. Jonathon led her up the stairs and to the left.

He brought her to another set of doors; Gus was sitting on a chair to the side of them, a newspaper in hands. Inside the room was a big bed, a barred window, a small table and chair, and another door leading into a bathroom complete with a shower. An outfit was laid out for her on the bed. Her cuffs were removed and she brought her hands up to her chest, rubbing one wrist - the metal had scraped both of them raw even in the minimal time she'd been wearing them. She turned towards Jonathon wearily. Gus stood in the doorway.

"Okay... so, what's the deal here?" Chloe said lowly. "Am I Rapunzel now? What do you want from me?"

"As I said before, I cannot yet explain that to you," Jonathon said.

"Sure you can. It doesn't matter if I know anything when I can't really _do_ something about it," Chloe retorted, mentally screaming a little for missing the chance to just jump out the window since she was now _definitely_ up too high to do that.

Jonathon gave her a pitying look. "Then it doesn't matter if you _don't_ know, either. Don't worry, it will all become clear soon enough. You have an appointment tomorrow."

Out of all the things he could have said, that was just about the last thing Chloe would have ever expected. She scowled in confusion but he was already walking away, nodding to Gus on the way out. Gus shut the door without a word and Chloe heard a heavy lock clank into place. Growling to herself, she turned to the bed and inspected the outfit. Just a simple long-sleeved shirt and a pair of sweatpants, along with a bra, underwear, and even socks. She bundled the clothes up in her arms and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The water worked so she took a quick shower before getting changed.

Back in her room, she sat on the edge of the bed. It was certainly a step-up from the dingy, cold basement room, but she was well aware that her situation hadn't actually changed much. Sure, she had better accommodations. That didn't really take away from the fact that she was being held hostage by a bunch of vampires in who-knows-where with the promise that she would only be hurt _a little_. Then there was her uncertainty regarding _who_ was running all of this, because now she highly doubted it was Ned. This was too advanced for him.

She got up and went over to her window. To her immense surprise, it faced a sheer-drop _cliff_. Harsh ocean waves hit the side of sharp, deadly rocks. So she was on a coast. Maybe she wasn't even in the U.S. anymore; this place was reminding her perhaps too much of Bram Stoker's _Dracula_. Although that could mean there was somehow a way she could climb down the cliff face and get into another room from here - but no, the window was barred. Then again, that couldn't mean much to her inhuman strength... She'd try another time. Right now she wanted to know exactly what "very little harm" and her "appointment" tomorrow meant.

* * *

Chloe had a clock in this new room, so she was aware of the passage of time despite not knowing at all what _day_ it was. She spent the rest of the blissfully uneventful day in her nice digs, eating a better cooked dinner and having her fill of water (which was really nice, since it'd been too long since she'd had any). The giant wardrobe in her room had more shirts and pants and everything, so she wouldn't be forced to wear her clothes until they started to smell. But she was still going just as crazy as she would have being stuck in the basement room.

Gus wasn't much of a conversationalist, so she didn't try very hard to talk to him. Jonathon came by to check on her the following morning and asked a few simple questions; the only person she felt she could kind of talk to was his sister, Lacy. She was very kind, just like her brother, though not overly so. Chloe found it odd that they were being nice to her at _all_ , especially if they still had intentions to hurt her.

She paid attention to every little hint she could find. For example, she could tell Lacy and Jonathon were older than Gus, at least in vampire years. Their politeness seemed to come from an age when being so hospital was just _normal_. They just barely had English accents. Gus, on the other hand, was purely American. None of that told her where she was.

The very _second_ her clock struck twelve in the afternoon, she heard her door unlock and she turned away from her window to see both Jonathon and Gus entering. Without a word they approached and both took a hold of her by her arms, practically dragging her out of the room. She didn't bother asking where they were going - even if she got a verbal answer, she knew it wouldn't help. They took her all the way back down to the basement, to a different room than the one she'd been initially kept in; this one was a lot bigger and well-lit, and instead of concrete the floor was made up of tiles. There was a gurney in the middle, right over a drain. A few smaller tables sat beside it. Chloe felt her body lock up with fear - she knew what this room was for without having to see any more or say a single word.

Were they actually going to _torture_ her?

Jonathon stepped away and Gus took her to the gurney, strapping her down at her head, chest, wrists, and legs. Her breath quickened a little as a feeling of helplessness took over, causing her to squirm in a vain attempt to test and maybe break her binds. Jonathon stepped into her line of sight and smiled at her pityingly.

"This won't take very long. We're simply testing you. As long as you do exactly what you're told and create little resistance, you won't have to make many appointments. We will begin with an hour long session," he said, voice disarmingly gentle. Chloe strained against the leather straps holding her down and wondered why she couldn't just break them. After all, she still had her strength. "I bet you're asking yourself where all your strength went," Jonathon half-sighed, and she flinched. "We've been giving you very lax kind of sedative in your food, a special formula created by vampires to use against werewolves. It gives you the feeling that you cannot use your full strength and speed, and lowers your instincts of out-of-moon turning."

Well, that explained why Chloe had yet to feel like she was going to turn for the sole purpose of self-preservation. She wasn't sure why she hadn't questioned that sooner. Now, though, it hardly seemed to matter. She gave Jonathon a weak glare right as he walked away again, returning with a thin washcloth that he placed over her face. Her breathing grew quicker, coming out in short gasps, and she unintentionally let out a fearful whine. No sooner had the sound escaped past her lips when water was being poured over the cloth, creating the feeling that she was drowning and couldn't breathe. Sheer panic numbed the pain a bit and she thrashed against her restraints in another fruitless attempt to tear herself away.

An hour dragged by slowly. At one point she realized she was crying and mumbling pleas for them to stop. They didn't. When they were _finally_ done and removed the cloth she heaved giant breaths into her depraved lungs, each gasp hurting more than the last. Her entire body trembled and she could feel bruises on her forehead, wrists and legs from the restraints around them. The one around her chest made it even harder for her to regain her breath. To her left, Jonathon stood looking down at her, still with that irritatingly pitying look. She could sort of smell Gus standing a few feet away, past her head and probably closer to the tables.

"So, Chloe, what will it be?" Jonathon said gently. "Will you do exactly as we say for as long as we find use for you? Remember, any resistance will schedule you another appointment, and if it's severe enough we will send a team to harm Beca and Aubrey. This includes attempts to escape. Do you understand, Chloe?"

She spluttered, still feeling a bit like she was drowning, and nodded frantically.

Jonathon smiled again. "Good. We'll be taking you back up to your room now. Get some rest - we'll be needing you soon."

* * *

 _A/N: Yes, I did just do that..._

 _I've been keeping ahead of myself chapter-wise, so don't worry about waiting too long for updates (at least for awhile lol). Please keep reviewing, following, and favoriting. It gives me life and the motivation to continue this!_

 _Also, don't freak out. This is definitely going to be finished, even if it takes me awhile :) Thank you all so much for showing your support, I REALLY appreciate it, like I can't even tell you all how much I loved each and every review sent in for the last chapter. You are all extraordinarily fabulous people. Thank you, thank you! Much love to you all.  
_


	17. Chapter XVII

**\+ XVII +**

Beca fidgeted at Aubrey's bedside, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit in the stiff chair she'd been provided to wait on. She felt sick and faintish.

They were in the hospital. Everything about their little escapade to meet Ned had gone so poorly, Beca didn't even really know what happened. One moment she was in the empty theater, looking around for advantages they may have. She'd gotten Aubrey's text about seeing someone enter the theater, most likely Ned, and hid to confront him. What she didn't expect was to be ambushed the second she saw him. The attacker - or maybe even _many_ attackers - had come out of nowhere, and the theater was too dark for her to see who it was. She couldn't even say whether or not they were vampires; no teeth or claws were used on their part, although it was her main method of trying to protect herself.

Just as soon as they had appeared, the attackers vanished. Beca had picked herself up from the floor (amidst the shattered remains of a concession stand case she'd been thrown onto) just in time to see Ned, sniveling and just as beat up as her, run away. She got up to give chase without thinking about what might have become of Aubrey.

She didn't chase Ned very far, as her attention had been pulled to the sight of a body lying completely still on the sidewalk before the building she'd left Aubrey up on. A sick, terrified feeling coursed through her, and for a few moments she couldn't move. She didn't want to approach the body just to see that it was Aubrey - she _especially_ didn't want to find out it was her and she was _dead_. Somehow, the same fear that paralyzed her prompted her to cross the street in a daze. She'd fallen to her knees beside Aubrey's body and nearly burst into tears at the same time her instincts flew into overdrive.

Aubrey's heart had still been beating, and she was breathing ever so slightly, but Beca could tell from the small pool of blood around her head that things were going to get really, _really_ bad if she didn't _do something_. First, she whipped her phone out and dialed 911 for an ambulance. Then she'd done something incredibly risky; she'd given Aubrey just enough of her venom to give her the ability of fast self-healing. There was no telling exactly how it would work, since Aubrey was human, but it was really all Beca could think of in ways of helping her, other than very gently propping her up and taking off her own jacket to press it against the bleeding wound on the back of her head. The ambulance had arrived shortly after and they'd been rushed to the hospital, where they remained. Beca had been allowed to come into Aubrey's room (she'd only really needed very minimal treatment herself, stitches in her cut lip and some other cuts from the glass of the concession stand, and an ice pack to hold against a sprained wrist) after the blonde received a little over an hour of treatment.

It was still early in the morning now, and Beca was starting to feel exhausted; the fight had drained her of her energy, as well as the slow healing her body was doing and the attempt at giving Aubrey some of her venom. She knew that, as the sun rose higher and higher, she would just get sleepier. First she figured she should contact Mrs. Beale and tell her why the two of them were nowhere to be found, and why they wouldn't be coming back soon.

She stood from the chair, pausing at the sight of Aubrey lying unconscious in her hospital bed - she hadn't woken up once. There was a cannula in her nose and she wore a neck brace. She had a few stitches in the cut she'd gotten from the back of her head smacking against the sidewalk. The doctor had told Beca that Aubrey had just barely avoided breaking her neck and she was very lucky to be alive - it was a miracle, really. Beca wasn't sure if any of this luck was because of her venom or not. Nadine had never explained to her how it could be used for anyone who wasn't a vampire, so who knew if it actually worked the way it was supposed to in this sense. Beca was just glad Aubrey was alive and that there didn't appear to be any long-lasting damage to her body or brain.

Heaving a more-or-less defeated sigh, she stepped out of the room, pulling her phone out of her back pocket as she did so. Her jacket was stained with blood and the smell was driving her crazy - though the Beale's had generously acquired a few blood bags for Beca's stay with them, it just wasn't anything compared to human blood. She wasn't surprised that they'd only gotten other animal blood, mainly from game.

She dialed Jazzlee's number, since the youngest Beale had put it in her phone just because, and she didn't have Mrs. Beale's. She couldn't call Nadine; her sire was away on some political trip, and if she was being honest, Beca was scared to tell her about what happened.

To her surprise Jazzlee picked up,despite it being six in the morning. " _Beca? Why are you calling , can't you just leave Chloe's room_?" Jazzlee grumbled, sounding half-asleep still.

"I'm, um, at the hospital? There was - well, ah... Can I talk to your mom?" Beca sighed.

She heard a bit of rustling and suddenly Jazzlee sounded _very_ awake. " _Yeah! Yeah, of course. Are you alright? Is Aubrey with you_?" she gushed. Then, more muffled, Beca heard, " _Mama, wake up! Wake - it's Beca, she says she's in the hospital, here_."

" _What on earth is going on_?" Mrs. Beale asked.

Beca explained what she and Aubrey were doing out of the house at one in the morning and why they were now in the hospital, her sick feeling persisting. She reluctantly added that there had been no sign of Chloe and that she didn't think anymore that the vampire prince was behind all this. All the while she kept an ear trained on Aubrey's room, just in case the blonde woke up. Instead she heard only silence aside from the steady beep of her heart rate monitor.

Mrs. Beale let out a long sigh. " _I'll be there as soon as possible. Would you like me to bring you some breakfast? I'll put it in a travel mug. Will you be waiting in Aubrey's room_?"

"Yeah..." Beca told her the room number, thanked her for bringing breakfast, and hung up. She sulked back into the room and plunked down in the chair. The urge to cry came back full-force and she leaned her head back, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. Everything was very quiet. She wondered still where Chloe was and why it seemed like Ned wasn't actually the reason she was kidnapped; who else had any reason to do something like that? Regardless of who it was, Beca knew she couldn't involve herself in this directly anymore. She'd almost gotten Aubrey _killed_ \- and there was no way she'd ever forgive herself for that.

"Beca? Beca, honey, wake up."

Her body jerked and she blinked rapidly to adjust to the harsh hospital lighting. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but she admittedly felt a little bit better now. Mrs. Beale stood beside her, smiling gently, and past her Aubrey was sitting up a tiny bit more and looking at her out of the corner of her eye. Beca lurched to her feet to stand closer to her side, fumbling to think of something to say and mostly just tearing up all over again.

"Fuck, Aubrey, I'm so sorry," she eventually managed, voice cracking.

"It's not your fault," Aubrey murmured. "I was worried about you, though. What happened? You don't look so good..."

Beca swallowed - her mouth had gone dry. "I was ambushed right when I saw Ned. I don't think he's the mastermind behind Chloe's kidnapping... He was attacked, too. I should have just stayed with you. You almost _died_ , Aubrey."

"But I didn't. Are you sure you're okay?" Aubrey countered, and in her eyes Beca could see both fear and a silent plea to not talk about the "almost dying" thing much more.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I have my venom to help me heal faster, so..." She trailed off, unsure whether or not if she should mention that a little bit of that same venom was in Aubrey's body. Maybe she'd say something after she gave Nadine a quick call. Besides, she could feel Mrs. Beale's eyes on both of them, and she didn't quite feel like she could be totally honest in her presence. It seemed more personal, at the very least.

They lapsed into a slight lull of silence; Aubrey crossed her arm over her stomach to take one of Beca's hands in her own. Beca nearly arched an eyebrow in surprise but wiped the expression away and instead offered a small smile. Her stomach churned. Aubrey didn't seem angry with her for what had happened and yet she couldn't let go of her guilt.

Mrs. Beale sighing heavily shook Beca out of her slight daze, and she looked away from Aubrey, realizing the blonde had been staring back at her that entire time. The older woman did _not_ look happy. "I'm very disappointed in you both," Mrs. Beale huffed, crossing her arms. Beca refrained from glancing back at Aubrey. "Although I don't blame you for wanting to take things into your own hands, I'm upset that you didn't share any of this information with me. It doesn't matter if you _think_ Chloe was taken away by a vampire. The police can still find and interrogate anyone regardless of that. I very much would have liked to know about this boy you think is responsible - we can't rule out anyone after this. Beca, please tell me his last name so I can inform the officers working on Chloe's case."

"Okay..." Beca murmured, but Mrs. Beale wasn't done there.

"I also cannot _believe_ the two of you would be so thoughtless as to split up like you did. It's quite clear now that we are dealing with fairly strong forces. From now on neither of you will be going anywhere alone - not even if you're with each other. Not until we find Chloe." She let out another sigh, suddenly looking exhausted. A small smile brought up the corners of her lips. "I'm very glad to see the two of you are alright. Aubrey, you're very lucky. Now, Beca, could I please have a word with you outside for a moment?"

Beca nodded and followed Mrs. Beale out into the hall, after giving Aubrey's hand a reassuring squeeze and a look that she hoped conveyed that she would be right back. Aubrey smiled weakly; Beca couldn't help flinching inwardly at how pained she looked, wearing that neck brace. She closed the door behind herself and turned to Mrs. Beale.

"I didn't want to say this in front of Aubrey, because she obviously doesn't wish to speak about her near-death, but I'm afraid we cannot rule out the possibility that whoever took Chloe wants to hurt whoever she's connected to as well," the older woman said quietly, glancing wearily at a passing nurse.

"You mean the person who pushed Aubrey off the building could have been trying to kill her, not just hurt her," Beca murmured, nodding. "Which reminds me, actually, did you ask her about what happened? She wasn't awake when I was."

"Yes, she said she was pushed. She was trying to find a way off the roof to get to you, gave up, and was standing near the edge when she heard someone behind her."

Beca glanced down at her feet. Mrs. Beale was right - they should have stayed together. She agreed that it was probably a bad idea to ever be alone until all this was resolved. There was something bigger happening, and it meant trouble. And Beca would be damned if she didn't do her best to at least keep Aubrey from getting hurt anymore. If she could, she'd say the same for Chloe, but that meant she had to _find_ the redhead first.

So maybe she wasn't backing out after all.

* * *

Aubrey was released from the hospital later that day, with strict instructions to keep her neck brace on, despite her protests of feeling a lot better. Secretly, Beca guessed it might be the venom helping. She drove Aubrey's car back to the Beale's house and they settled in for a "relaxing" evening - Mrs. Beale wasn't about to let them leave the house, not even to go out to the pool, although she left again with Peter and Rose to do some searching on their own. Mr. Beale was down at the local precinct. Beca and Aubrey were left alone with Todd there to make sure they didn't go against any doctor's orders.

"Can I get either of you anything?" he asked, joining them in the living room where they were watching TV. He smiled at them gently, patiently. "Everyone should be back for dinner, but if you're hungry, I do make a mean plate of nachos."

Beca snorted. "I'm good, man. Thanks."

"Yes, thank you, Todd. I'm not very hungry right now," Aubrey murmured. She would be wearing her neck brace for awhile still, and would have to go back into the hospital for check-ups; Beca assumed her healing process would go a bit quicker, but until then she just looked so uncomfortable in the brace. Her attention was primarily focused on the TV (some show on the cooking network, Beca thought it was actually pretty charming) and she looked on the brink of tears. Guilt slammed back into Beca full-force and she glanced swiftly at Todd. He, too, was intently watching the show. _I should still wait to talk to her_ , Beca thought, scowling to herself.

An hour later Aubrey got up, saying she needed to go lie down, and retired up in Chloe's bedroom. Todd seemed a bit torn at first, like he wasn't sure if he should go upstairs as well or stay in the living room with Beca. Luckily for him his father came back home and sat resolutely on the other end of the couch Beca was sitting on.

"Could I talk to you for a moment, Beca?" Mr. Beale said gently, reaching forward to pick up the remote from the coffee table and put the TV on mute.

"Oh. Y-yeah?" Beca muttered. She watched Todd glance between the two of them before getting up and leaving. Silence enveloped them and she wearily looked to Mr. Beale; she hadn't talked to him nearly as much as she had talked to his wife, and wasn't even entirely sure how he _felt_ about her. The way his light brown eyes seemed to stare directly into her very soul without giving away any emotion was unnerving.

He sat in a way she thought came from movies when the dad gave the boyfriend a talk and made sure he knew just how protective he was of his daughter, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees and his hands were grasped together. Mr. Beale just stared at her a few moments longer before saying anything. "I'm going to be honest with you, Beca. I don't know what to think of you," he said, and Beca felt her body tense on instinct. "With that being said, it's not like I really know how to think about my own wife and children - it's been a bit of a struggle for me to come to terms with the whole werewolf thing. I didn't even explicitly know vampires exist as well before now, really."

"I-I'm sorry if I've made you at all uncomfortable, sir," Beca interjected.

But Mr. Beale was smirking. "Uncomfortable? Oh, no, you don't have to worry about any of that. I know how to roll with it. What I'm trying to say is that... you could be, eh, the Loch Ness monster, and I wouldn't even bat an eye. I can see how happy you make my Chloe, and I could always see how much Aubrey cares about her. Who knows, maybe the both of you can do something to really ground Chloe. I worry about her sometimes - but that's just a dad thing." He shifted so he was sitting up a bit straighter, gaze on his hands now. "Anyway, I suppose this is me giving you - and Aubrey - my blessing. You make Chloe happy. I like that."

Beca honestly didn't know what to say. He looked back up and smiled kindly, his face looking a bit worn from the events of the past few days. "Thank you, sir," she eventually managed, voice a little strained so she cleared her throat. "That means a lot to me. I... I don't know how much you know about the complications that could come of any relationship we have, though. Regardless of, uh... three of us being in said relationship. I mean, hopefully."

He scoffed and waved a hand. "I don't think you need to worry much about that. I've seen the way the three of you are always looking at each other when you think the other's not looking." Shifting a little, he changed his position again, leaning all the way back and propping one leg up on the other. "As for the complications, I know what it's like for a human to be with a werewolf. I'm guessing your main worries are coming from the human-werewolf-vampire aspect to it, and you're right, I know nothing about that. Is it still possible?" he asked, and his eyes glinted in a comforting mixture of mirth and genuine, polite curiosity. Beca decided she rather liked talking to him and could see where at least Todd got the habit of being so soft-spoken and just all around gentle.

"I mean, yeah," she half-huffed, brushing some hair out of her face. "It's just... I don't know. There's going to be a difference between just a relationship and something more serious, but that isn't anything that needs to really be discussed any time soon..."

Humming, Mr. Beale gave a slight nod. "Well, I'm glad I talked to you now. What are you watching?" he asked, leaning forward to grab the remote again and unmute it.

"Like, _The Pioneer Woman_ or something," Beca chuckled.

They watched TV together, waiting for everyone else to come home. By the time dinner was ready Beca had almost completely forgotten her guilt - but that was before she saw Aubrey coming down the stairs. Her hair was matted and she looked half-asleep, eyes bloodshot. Beca felt her dead heart give a small quiver of sympathy and regret. Before the blonde could step into the kitchen she gently grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to the stairs.

"Hey, Bree," she began, letting out a breath she didn't need. "I'm really sorry."

"It isn't your fault, Beca," Aubrey immediately shot back.

"But it is. I shouldn't have left you up on that roof alone, especially when you started freaking out - it was stupid of me to think we should have had the upper hand. Maybe if we'd just gone in after Ned neither of us would be hurt and we'd actually _know_ what happened to Chloe." She shook her head, biting down on her lip to stop a torrent of self-deprecating word vomit from escaping. "Just... I'm sorry. And I get it if you never want to forgive me."

Aubrey scowled but smiled at the same time. "Beca, you're being ridiculous. This was _not_ your fault. I forgive you for not being there."

Uncertainty trickled up Beca's spine. She looked away, shoving her hands in her back jean pockets, and just nodded. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aubrey smile in return and then hesitate, the look on her face calculating as her smile slipped away. Before Beca could ask if she was alright the smile snapped back into place and she brushed past the brunette to go into the kitchen, where Mrs. Beale was calling for everyone to come sit down for dinner.

Beca followed her in and sat beside her, thanking Mrs. Beale for the very light serving she got, smirking at the glass of blood that was placed before her as well. She found it so funny, especially since none of the Beale's even seemed to notice it - except Rose, she scowled in distaste every time. They all ate in relative silence until Peter abruptly slammed his fork down and put his face in his hands, elbows resting on the table. Beca heard him take in a shuddering breath and when he straightened they all saw tears streaking down his face. She exchanged an awkward glance with Aubrey.

"Peter, honey, it'll be alright," Mrs. Beale said softly. " _Chloe_ will be alright."

"We don't know that," Peter sniffled, staring down dejectedly.

Mr. Beale leaned towards him a little. "Son, we've done all we can. Now we just have to rely on the police to do their job. They'll bring Chloe home safe and sound."

Peter shook his head, but he said nothing.

The rest of dinner was spent in an awkward silence, and Beca couldn't get away from the table quick enough; she and Aubrey both put their dishes away before scurrying up to Chloe's room, seeming to be in agreement that they didn't quite want to deal with the bereft family at the moment. Beca gently shut the bedroom door behind them.

"How are you feeling?" she asked Aubrey.

"Not like I just fell off a building," the blonde huffed, situating herself against the bed's headboard. "I haven't even needed to take the medication I was given. Beca, did you have something to do with this?"

The sudden accusation caught Beca off guard, and she didn't respond right away. Instead she took her time getting comfortable sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed, putting a decent distance between herself and Aubrey (who was staring at her with irritating expectance). "Um... how do you mean?" she muttered.

"There's no way I should be recovering as fast as I am, and I can _feel_ it, Beca. This isn't a normal human thing, so, naturally, I thought you must have something to do with it," Aubrey explained logically. Her hand came up to fiddle with the brace a little.

Beca sighed. "Okay, yeah, I gave you a little bit of my venom while I was waiting for the ambulance, 'cause I was terrified. I was going to tell you, I just didn't want to when Mrs. Beale was standing right there." She paused, taking in the way Aubrey's expression turned hesitant. "I don't know much about how vampire venom works for humans, but it's for the purpose of healing in this instance, so you won't have to worry about anything. It's not like it's going to turn you. That would entail very explicit consent."

Aubrey nodded, but couldn't really move much, and she groaned lightly from the pain and discomfort Beca was sure she was feeling. "Alright... thank you for telling me. How did-"

She was interrupted by a buzzing sound, and Beca pulled her phone out of her back pocket, eyes narrowing at the screen. Another unrecognized number, this one definitely not Ned's. She looked up at Aubrey and pressed a finger to her lips to signal she be quiet before swiping her thumb across the screen and holding it up to her ear. "Hello?"

" _Yes, hello, is this Beca_?"

"Um, speaking. Who is this?" Beca said, waving a hand at Aubrey as she mouthed something along the lines of asking what was going on.

A relieved breath came from the other end. " _Oh, I am so glad I got a hold of you. This is Vivianne. You know me, yes? I know we've only met a few times, but I hoped you would be able to help me with something. It is quite dire_."

Beca scowled. Why was Vivianne, the vampire princess of all people, calling _her_? "What do you need help with?" she half-growled.

" _There is an issue I feel I cannot impart to my sires_ ," Vivianne said. " _They would perhaps not be so understanding. I thought you would be more knowledgeable. It does involve some legal matters pertaining to treaties and what not, but I can do that part on my own. For you, your helping would involve a little bit of, how you say, strength_?"

"You mean like muscle? A bodyguard or something?" Beca asked, scowl deepening though at the same time she felt a bit lightened by Vivianne's pleasant accent and the way she didn't quite have an entire grasp on the English language yet.

" _Yes, something like that_."

"Okay... Can you give me any more concrete details? I'm a bit confused here, as I'm sure you understand. Do you need protection from something?" She refrained from saying some _one_ ; that was just a bit too damning.

" _I would rather explain in person. May we meet_?"

Weariness crept back in. Beca didn't like the thought of going off on her own to meet the vampire princess, but she knew there wasn't really any other way to do it. Still... if Vivianne really needed her help, maybe she could use that to her advantage. For a second she just needed to ignore the fact that she was a superior and could very easily say no to her request, and that would be the end of it. She also ignored the fact that there would hardly be any chance Mrs. Beale would let her (and Aubrey, of course) leave the house. "Yeah, we can meet. And I know this is kinda a royal thing, but I need to be able to bring someone with me. For personal reasons. Would that be alright?" she said.

" _Oh, yes. You may bring someone with if you must. I will text you an address and you will come meet me, yes_?" Vivianne replied immediately.

"Yup. Sounds good."

" _And one more thing, Beca_ ," Vivianne practically hissed. " _This is also important. It's about Ned. I think he's done something very wrong, and that is why I need your help. I wish to confront him about it myself before bringing it up to our sires_."

Beca glanced to Aubrey, aware that the blonde had been watching and listening to this side of the conversation the entire time. She looked somewhat hopeful but mostly confused. "Thank you for telling me that, Vivianne. I'll see you soon," Beca said, and she hung up. Her gaze locked with Aubrey's and she could feel her anger getting the better of her, bringing out a bit of her vampire form. She didn't wait for Aubrey to ask what the call had been about. "It looks like I _was_ right about Ned. I know what I'm about to tell you isn't going to make Mrs. Beale happy, but what do you say to another little adventure?"

* * *

 _A/N: Hello lovely people! Hope this chapter was okay, it felt kinda filler to me, and perhaps on the shorter side... but the mystery might be starting to unravel! Stay tuned, y'all. Also, I hope I explained how Aubrey is still alive after such a fall well enough. And please, keep reviewing, following, and favoriting! Much love to you all~  
_


	18. Chapter XVIII

**\+ XVIII +**

"This isn't an adventure, Beca. This is exactly what we did last night. This time we're just staying in the car," Aubrey grumbled. She had to turn her whole body in order to scowl at the brunette in the driver's seat, even though she felt very little pain at this point thanks to Beca's venom; the neck brace was still just awkward to wear. They were waiting in the parking lot to a local park that consisted of a large grassy area and a lot of playground equipment. Vivianne was supposed to show up and meet them in a half-hour. It was three in the morning now.

Beca shook her head, gaze focused on the empty street. "I know, but we're going about this in a smarter way. Besides, we can trust Vivianne."

Aubrey turned away again. She didn't like this, in part because she could already hear how Mrs. Beale was going to reprimand them for going out in the middle of the night again to meet with a vampire. It didn't really matter that they had a plan this time and that they weren't going to split up; Aubrey just had a bad feeling, and she didn't really want to meet a new vampire right now. After everything that had happened the night before she selfishly wished Beca had gone to meet Vivianne on her own... but that just wouldn't do.

"I know you're worried," Beca murmured, and she glanced at the brunette out of the corner of her eye, "but don't be. Seriously. I thought this through a hell of a lot better. Before we left, I gave Peter a note telling him to come here at like 3:20. He'll be our back-up."

"Great, so all of us can get in trouble," Aubrey sighed.

Beca shot her a disgruntled look. "Vivianne is trying to help us. She said Ned did something bad, and I bet you like twenty bucks she's gonna tell us he kidnapped a werewolf," she half-growled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Rolling her eyes, Aubrey turned to her once more. "And _why_ did Ned kidnap a werewolf, Beca? What could possibly be his motivations other than to be awful to you?"

"Obviously he's got some other ulterior motive other than that - he isn't _that_ petty, even if he also isn't great at making plans with foresight," Beca huffed. "I'm not sure what it could be right now. It can't be good, though. Maybe it doesn't even have to do with the fact that Chloe is important to _me_ specifically." She glanced past Aubrey at the dark, silent park. In her eyes (which were still silver after they switched to that color once she was done talking to Vivianne on the phone) Aubrey could see the large amounts of apprehension she felt. "Knowing him, though, he wanted to gloat to _somebody_. When a vampire shares the same sire with another family, they feel a bond like any other sibling, maybe even stronger. If he feels like what he did will get him in trouble he probably went to Vivianne to see if she would help."

"This is all just speculation," Aubrey murmured. "We don't _know_ anything."

Beca gestured behind her and said, "Vivianne does."

Aubrey turned to look out her window and saw a lone form sulking about in the darkness, nearing the swing set. The longer she watched, though, someone else joined the first person. She sighed and heard Beca rustling around for something in the backseat.

"They're early," the brunette growled.

"Who exactly is _they_?" Aubrey snapped in a whisper, somewhat afraid she would be overheard, even at this distance - which would hardly matter to a vampire, would it? "Can you really tell if one of those people is Vivianne?"

"Of course. I _can_ see in the dark, Aubrey. That's definitely her, she just brought someone with her. She isn't really supposed to go anywhere without _some_ sort of protection. Royal decree stuff, you know? The King and Queen would flip their shit if something happened to her. Come on, let's go talk to her. Since she came so early we can just get this over with."

Aubrey heard the car door open and hesitated, taking a deep breath before exiting the car as well. Beca joined her on the sidewalk and they walked through the gate into the park. There was a sort of tension to the air that made Aubrey feel nauseas, and she made sure to keep a step behind Beca just in case. That was part of their new "protocol"; she would stay behind Beca enough to be protected from a front attack, and at the same time she would look to each side and behind them for any sort of ambush. Beca's sharp hearing would certainly alert her to anyone approaching, probably long before Aubrey _saw_ anyone, but at least this way they both felt just a little bit more comfortable. They stopped a few feet away from the swing set; Vivianne was on one, gently swinging. The other vampire she came with stood to her side, a big, hulking shadow. Aubrey swallowed nervously. It also didn't help that this neck brace made her feel a whole new kind of vulnerable. She glanced to Beca and gently gripped her arm.

Beca bowed a little, and she did too, a formality Beca had warned her to partake in - just to start off on a good foot. "Hello," Beca greeted. "Princess. I'm afraid I've never met your guard before. Is he similarly aware of the situation?" she asked.

Aubrey glanced down. As an extra precaution, Beca had brought a _knife_ of all things that she had nabbed from the Beale's kitchen. She'd also armed Aubrey with a bit of pure silver - Aubrey hadn't the slightest clue where it came from, but she didn't ask. It was a cross on a chain, and while it felt a little stereotypical and pretty cheesy (Aubrey wasn't even a very religious person) it did make her feel better to know it was in her pocket. If worse came to worse she'd use it, although she didn't know what using it looked like.

Hopping off the swing, Vivianne approached them. "Hello, Beca. This is my guard, but he is of little importance. Nothing for you to worry about, yes?"

Aubrey saw Beca frown. "Sure..." the brunette muttered.

"This is your friend? Hello. My name is Vivianne," the vampire princess said, offering her hand out to Aubrey. "You look like you took quite the tumble, maybe?"

"I-I'm alright. Thank you," Aubrey murmured uncertainly, yet still politely, shaking her hand. Another thing Beca had told her was to not make too much eye-contact, to only meet Vivianne's gaze when the vampire princess talked to her directly. From the quick glance she'd gotten she could see Vivianne's eyes were a really light blue, kind of whitish, and glowed lightly. Aubrey couldn't tell if these were her vampire form eyes or not.

"So... we get down to business now, yes?" Vivianne asked, expectantly turning her attention back to Beca. "I would like to talk about my _brother_. He has not done something well and I would appreciate your perspective on this."

Beca nodded slightly. "Okay. Tell me what's wrong."

"The thing is..." Vivianne murmured, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, "I am not _entirely_ certain what he's done. All he said to me was that he is planning something that will change things as we know them, particularly between us and the, ah... _werewolves_. He is aiming for a war I think, yes? Wouldn't you?"

Aubrey scowled. The idea of _war_ was a pretty big leap to make, and though it wasn't entirely unbelievable, it seemed like a bit... much. She had her eyes on Beca already and saw the brunette shift a little as well. "War does kind of seem like a possible outcome if Ned really does want to stir up conflict between us and the werewolves, but do you really think he'd be so... well, that is to say, do you think Ned would really _want_ to start a war?" she said, a bit slowly, stressing each word. Aubrey looked briefly to what she could see of the vampire princess' guard, which was only his feet, and she couldn't help but wonder what his purpose for being here was. Sure, there was Vivianne's protection to worry about. But Vivianne didn't seem to even want him here with them.

"I thought I knew Ned well," Vivianne sighed. "Now I am not so sure I do. Though he is nasty I did not think at first that he would go so far."

"At first?" Beca echoed.

"He told me he has big plans, yes? Something he wished to put into motion, to start it off with angering only a few, and then it would quickly go out of control," Vivianne explained, and she began pacing, taking a step or two to one side before turning to step once or twice to the other side. It seemed very methodical. "He would not tell me who it is he decided to attack first, who he wishes to hurt. I have the feeling he wants this to go as far as possible, so maybe he would not be so opposed to war, yes?"

Aubrey was liking this less and less by the minute.

"So what do you need my help with?" Beca asked bluntly. "Princess?" she added.

"I want you to go to where Ned stays, where he has made his home - the castle he was given from our sires. I have one of my own, too. He does not visit. He does not want me to go to his. I am afraid that maybe he is keeping someone there."

Tugging Beca's sleeve, Aubrey got the brunette's attention and she turned over her shoulder to lock gazes. She nodded in understanding. "My friend would like to ask you something, princess," she said.

"Oh, yes?"

"I'm just wondering," Aubrey began, looking up, "why it is that both you and Ned have been _here_ of all places, around the same time."

Vivianne offered a tight, yet still warm smile. "Do you know much of Beca's and his feud, Beca's friend? Ned does not like her very much. I am assuming he was here to play with her - I think he wants her to know about what he's done. He would like a challenge and Beca has been more than enough of that for him, he likes that. I followed him here, slowly, because I am worried about what he's up to, yes?"

"That makes sense... thank you," Aubrey said, biting back a sigh. Why did it feel like they were getting somewhere but taking steps back at the same time?

"Where exactly does Ned live?" Beca asked.

"I can give you address again. I will even let you come back with me in my private jet, to show how grateful I am to you for your willingness to help. Your friend can come too. But we must be leaving soon, in the morning. I do not want to give Ned time to do anything much worse than what he might have already done."

Beca dipped her head down a little. "With all due respect, princess, do you think that - maybe - you're jumping to one too many conclusions?" she said. "I understand that you're worried about your brother, and if he's done something you want to protect him as much as possible while also protecting our Clan. All I'm saying is that the idea of war is a bit much for him. If it's _me_ he's got the biggest issue with, do you think he'd go so far _just_ to... challenge me?" She shook her head in bemusement. "I just don't see it, princess."

Aubrey felt a sudden change to the air, and she flinched when Vivianne spoke; her voice was much darker, _crueler_ almost. "Then you don't know him at all," she growled.

"My apologies, princess," Beca murmured.

"I have come seeking your help, yes? Will you give it to me?"

Aubrey glanced up in time to see Beca turn to her, and she arched an eyebrow as if to ask the same question. Beca fidgeted and said to the vampire princess, "I'd just like to talk it out with my friend first, if you don't mind, princess. There's, ah, some information I might need to relay to you." She grabbed Aubrey by the arm and dragged her away a few feet. Meanwhile, Vivianne got back on her swing, but she didn't swing, just sat on it.

"Beca, I don't like the sound of _any_ of this," Aubrey hissed, trying to keep her voice extra quiet just in case. "It all seems way too coincidental. If Vivianne is _that_ worried about Ned wanting to start a war, why doesn't she go to her sires about it? They're the king and queen!"

"If they suspect him of a plot to disrupt the peace between vampires and werewolves, they're going to put him on trial. If the evidence is enough and he's found guilty, he'll be killed for treason," Beca explained in a low growl, punctuating her words with a sigh. "Like I told you before, when a vampire shares their sire with another vampire, the bond is incredibly strong - especially if they share _two_ sires. Not only that, but the King and Queen are going to have issues _killing_ one of their sired. If possible, they won't let it come to that, which is why Vivianne is doing all she can to stop Ned before he goes too far."

"But Beca, she's basically explaining this off as a rivalry between you and Ned! He may be stupid and awful, but I really don't see him going to the lengths of putting his Clan and all the werewolves at aca-freaking _war_ together!" Aubrey countered, just barely stopping herself from throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.

Beca's expression turned dark and sad. "I hear you, Aubrey, but I'm afraid there's a decent possibility he _would_ do that, _because_ he's stupid and awful."

Aubrey narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. Despite it being early summer she felt cold, and a chill crept up her spine, making her shiver lightly. Part of her wondered if it was just the influence of three vampires in one area, but she had no evidence to back that up - Beca would have told her if she could affect the _weather_. "Okay, so what are we going to do? Run off with Vivianne in her _private jet_ and go confront Ned in his _castle_?" she huffed.

"I guess so," Beca muttered. Her eyes drifted to the side, and Aubrey almost looked as well before thinking better of it. "Peter's here. Man, I forgot to warn him when we went in that they got here earlier than they said they would..."

"Should we bring him in on all this?" Aubrey asked.

Beca paused a moment, worrying her lower lip between her teeth, then shook her head and looked away. "No - I mean, not this directly. Like, we should absolutely tell him where we're going and what we're thinking in terms of what happened to Chloe, but he doesn't need to go with us. We'll need him to explain to Mrs. Beale why we were out in the middle of the night again, and why we didn't come back."

"We can't leave right _now_ , Beca! Don't we at least need to bring _some_ stuff with us?"

"Are you done talking it over, Beca and Beca's friend?"

They turned to Vivianne and exchanged a quick glance. Beca took a deep breath. "We'll help you, princess. When and where will we meet you to leave?" she said.

Vivianne grinned, showing off razor-sharp, thin fangs. "Very good! Tomorrow, around nine in the morning. I will pick you up. You needn't worry about getting there yourselves. Thank you so much, Beca. I knew I could trust you with this." She hopped off the swing again and approached them. "Your loyalty means a lot to me," she added softly, shaking Beca's hand and reaching out to give her shoulder a squeeze. Her white-blue eyes flicked up to Aubrey's. That fanged grin kicked up a few notches and Aubrey reminded herself not to shudder - as much as she liked to _say_ she was used to all this vampire and werewolf business, she knew that wasn't _quite_ her reality. "And thank you so much, Beca's friend. You may be a human, but if Beca can put her faith in you, so can I. I appreciate your bravery." Again, she extended her hand.

Aubrey shook it firmly, smiling back. "It's my pleasure to assist in any way I can," she said, voice hardly coming out above a whisper, she was so anxious.

Nodding, Vivianne turned and snapped her fingers at her guard. "Tomorrow at nine," she repeated. Beca and Aubrey nodded respectfully and watched as the two of them slipped back into the shadows. The second they were gone Beca grabbed Aubrey again, dragging her in the direction of the car; they were intercepted by Peter, who emerged from the bushes lining the sidewalk near the front gates to the park.

"Shit, I never thought I'd meet more than one vampire in my lifetime," he half-snapped. His shoulders were tense, his eyes a bit wild. "Who the hell is Ned? A war really isn't what we need right now - didn't we _just_ work out a peace treaty?" He shook his head. "What are you two planning on doing?"

"We're going home with Vivianne," Beca sighed. "Ned is the vampire prince, and he's who we initially suspected to have kidnapped Chloe. With any luck we'll find her when we go see just what he's up to." She gestured to the car and they all piled in, her in the driver's seat again, Aubrey in passenger, and Peter in the middle seat in the back. "I know your mom is gonna hate this. Do you think you can explain it to her? Except leave out the fact that we snuck out again. And also maybe leave out the war part as well."

She started the car and pulled away from the park; in the rearview mirror, Aubrey saw Peter scowl. "Our pack has a right to know what's going on when a vampire threatens _war_ ," he said, and he somehow looked even more tense than he had moments ago.

"I get that," Beca said, "but you don't want to cause panic, do you? Besides, this really is all just speculation, even if it's got some merit to it."

Peter was silent for a good while. "Alright," he finally conceded. His tone was a little defeated, and Aubrey frowned "I'll leave all that out. But what else do you expect me to tell my folks? You didn't exactly give me much to work with."

"Man, I dunno. They're your parents, you know how to lie to them better than we do."

Aubrey scoffed. "We shouldn't _have_ to lie." She moved to turn around in her seat and look Peter in the eye before realizing she couldn't with the stupid brace on. "Why can't we just tell them the truth, minus the war stuff and how we snuck out again? They have a right to know that we're not just abandoning them at this time. Chloe _is_ still missing, and this way we _are_ helping, and they should know that."

"She's right," Peter said, hints of a smirk tugging at his lips. "My mama does love honesty, and even if she doesn't exactly like what you two are doing or think you aren't being safe, she'll appreciate it if you tell her."

Beca scowled. "We'll worry about that later. Aubrey, when we get back try to just pack one bag - a backpack would be smartest. Fill it with essentials _only_."

Aubrey didn't respond; she gazed out the window, trying not to pout, and resisting the urge to rip the brace off. She didn't think she needed it and it only seemed to add to all her anxieties surrounding what they were doing - they had a foolhardy plan at best, and she still had awfully mixed feelings on Vivianne. Something just seemed... off... about all this. But there wasn't much she could do about it right _now_. They were already set to leave town with the vampire princess in the morning. She wondered where exactly they were going.

More importantly, she just hoped Chloe was safe, wherever she was.

* * *

They hadn't been allowed to see how they got to whatever airport or whatever they went to; the fancy car Vivianne had picked them up in had such tinted windows Aubrey couldn't even see shapes through them. The vampire princess had a different guard than the night before, and this one still didn't say a word, nor were they introduced to him either. They got to the small airport, got in the even fancier jet, and were off.

At least Vivianne had warned Beca ahead of time that it would be a ten hour flight and that they should bring some stuff to preoccupy themselves with, although she had plenty for them in the jet as well. Like a giant flat screen TV and WiFi, so for the most part some show or another was playing on Netflix the entire time. _No_ one really talked. Aubrey hadn't seen the harm in putting her earbuds in and losing herself to the music on her phone. The seats in the jet were basically beds in chair form, so she slept for most of the flight, a great relief after having been awake all night. She was pretty sure Beca had spent the majority of the ten hours just working on her mixes and maybe sleeping some as well.

They arrived in Romania (of course) close to 8pm United States time, making that 3am the next morning in Romania. Another tinted car picked them up and took them... somewhere. Again, Aubrey hadn't been able to see exactly where they went, they just arrived at a grand castle amidst tall, dark trees. It rested atop a hill. The car had pulled up in a curving dirt and gravel driveway and Vivianne had escorted them inside.

Vivianne had introduced them to more vampires, her staff; her butler, Max, and her two maids, Emily and a woman she only referred to as the Kommissar.

Aubrey and Beca were shown to a guest room on the third floor, where they were left alone until it was a more appropriate hour - at least for Aubrey. She was surprised by how accommodating to her human needs Vivianne was being. She had slept off the jet lag while Beca stayed up, sitting beside her in the queen sized bed they were given. She remembered thinking it was oddly domestic right as she was drifting off.

When she awoke a few hours later (eight in the morning) Max had brought them breakfast; a literal _chalice_ for Beca to drink blood from, and he left her an entire pitcher of it so she would have her fill, and some eggs, toast, and sausage for Aubrey.

Now that she was done eating, Aubrey was starting to feel antsy. This whole castle felt too weird. She turned to Beca sitting across from her in the table in their room, sipping at her blood, and asked more or less on impulse, "Have you read Bram Stoker's _Dracula_?"

Beca quirked an eyebrow and set down her chalice. "Um, ages ago. Right around when it first came out, actually, I think... Why?"

Aubrey shrugged. "No reason."

"Does this place remind you of Dracula's castle in the book?"

"Please, Beca. You can't blame me for making that comparison. What else am I supposed to think? We're in Romania, staying in a castle inhabited solely by vampires. The only thing we're really missing is the ocean right next to us." Aubrey scowled and glanced out the window, even though she was already about 95% sure they weren't staying on a cliff.

Chuckling, Beca poured herself a little more blood. There was some still on her lower lip. "It's kinda just like you humans to compare real vampire things to fiction and movies, isn't it? I bet you anything Jesse would have a freaking cow if he came here," she practically purred. "Don't let it get to you, Bree. I know it's really weird, but it's also temporary. We're just going to figure out what's going on with Ned, hopefully find Chloe, and go home. All three of us."

A knock on the door interrupted them before Aubrey could respond, and after Beca voiced a "come in", the door opened and the Kommissar poked her head in. "The Mistress would like to see you both now," she said. She had a very thick German accent and wore her blonde hair up in a painfully tight looking bun; she wasn't even dressed like a maid, but more like a soldier, clad head to toe in gray camouflage and complete with heavy combat boots.

Beca glanced to Aubrey reassuringly as she stood. Aubrey could only follow, and they exited the room, trailing after the Kommissar in the direction of the grand staircase that would take them back down to the ground floor level. Aubrey had a mind for memorizing, and it comforted her to be able to know which halls went where (at least regarding the ones she'd been through so far). Being able to navigate this place made her feel less like a prisoner, more like she had some freewill here. She knew that wasn't the intention but she couldn't help it. She'd read _Dracula_ in high school, and though she hadn't necessarily liked it that much, it seemed like an appropriate grounding for all her fears. There was no way any of the vampires in this castle would bring her to harm, thanks to Beca, and she knew that - she was just an anxious person. At the same time she genuinely felt bad for comparing the vampires she knew to what she'd read. That seemed stereotypical and discriminatory; they were very modern vampires, they just lived in a castle. It was probably a tradition or something. The king and queen lived in a castle of their own probably because they were incredibly old and that would have been the norm of their time. So Aubrey forced herself to push away any thoughts of _Dracula_ and even _Twilight_ (not that she'd liked those books much either, at least not after she went back to them for some light reading the summer before she went to college; they had a better place in her middle school memories, when she wouldn't even admit she'd read them because she'd been far too shy to try to fit in with all the popular girls who loved them and practically worshipped the main male characters), and she would keep an open mind when confronted with more vampires than she knew what to do with. Part of her just also felt like she needed to meet some more werewolves to balance it all out...

The Kommissar took them to a dining hall, where Vivianne was having her own meal of blood. Max and Emily stood off to each of her sides but the Kommissar stayed nearer to Beca and Aubrey as they sat down near the head of the table side by side.

Vivianne greeted them with a smile. "How are you liking my home so far? Are you both comfortable? I trust your breakfast was alright, Beca's friend. Though I am not at all too old to have forgotten what I used to like as a human, I also have Emily here to help me out. So it was alright, yes?" she said.

"Oh," Aubrey stammered, glancing swiftly at Emily while also trying to hide her surprise. Now that she got a better look at the girl she supposed she didn't actually look like a vampire. She'd figured Emily was just a very _young_ vampire like Vivianne was, or at least that she'd been turned when she was around the age of nineteen. Clearing her throat a tiny bit, Aubrey said, "Yes, it was very good. Thank you so much for you hospitality." Beca gave her a little nudge under the table and she added, "Princess," as an afterthought.

"It is no trouble. We hardly get visitors here, and I so love it when we do. I am not used to castles yet. They are much too big for me," Vivianne said, giggling. "Anyway, please, feel free to explore. I have locked rooms that I would rather you not go into, and you will also find plenty that are not being used. Just be careful, especially on the upper levels - this place is old." She looked expectantly to Beca, and it was like a switch had suddenly been flipped, and she looked dead serious. _Perhaps not a great choice of words_ , Aubrey mused to herself. "Beca, you mentioned you have information to give to me?" the princess said.

Beca nodded and leaned forward some, folding her arms on the table. "Yeah. As you may or may not know already, princess, I decided to attend a human college. Near the end of the school year I found out that Ned is enrolled at the same college, and he has harassed Aubrey here, our friend Chloe, and more of our human friends. He even dared to harm Aubrey physically. Nadine - my sire - had to step in. It is based on this that I think he might also be responsible for something else that happened more recently."

"And what is that?" Vivianne asked, waving Max over. He hurried forward and cleared away her breakfast, to which he received a small thanks before he left the dining hall.

"We believe Ned has kidnapped our friend Chloe. I was going to meet with him the other day, because he _said_ he had her, but I was ambushed. It even looked like he'd been attacked as well, but that very well could have been staged. And you remember how Aubrey was wearing a neck brace last night?" Vivianne nodded (Aubrey had taken it off and left it at the Beale's house, not wanting the added sensation of vulnerability; besides, she still felt remarkably okay, despite the height of the fall). "She was attacked, too. I'm just saying, Ned has a lot of reasons to not like me, and perhaps he even thinks kidnapping someone close to me will help him with whatever he's doing."

Vivianne nodded slowly, visibly contemplating all this information. Meanwhile, the Kommissar stepped forward to take the place Max had previously occupied, and Aubrey glanced from her to Emily. The young brunette had a bright gaze and seemed eager to please. Unlike the Kommissar, she actually _was_ dressed more like a maid. Well, a maid from the Victorian age, which was a bit odd since Max's suit was blatantly modern and a navy blue color, not exactly matching well with Emily's black dress and white apron. Though she did fit in with the Kommissar color wise, they had some pretty drastic differences - and not even just in their clothing (but Aubrey noted that the Kommissar's clothes looked just as tight as her hairdo, whereas Emily's were much looser, as was the bun her hair was in, with a few loose strands framing her face and covering the back of her neck). Emily just looked a lot nicer and far less intimidating than the Kommissar. And of course one was human while the other was vampire.

"I agree with what you are thinking, Beca," Vivianne finally spoke, and Aubrey focused her gaze so she wasn't staring at the two other women out of the corner of her eye, "but I do not really see why Ned would want to find a way to use a human to his advantage. Is this other friend of yours, by any chance, a werewolf?"

Beca showed no sign of that affecting her, but Aubrey flinched ever so slightly, even though she wasn't entirely sure _why_. Did it make that much of a difference if they knew? If anything, it would make their other mission - to find Chloe - more important in the vampire princess' eyes. "Yes, she's a werewolf," Beca said slowly. "Hurting her really badly would certainly anger her community. It would also anger _me_ , because she's very important to me."

"You would say you are close with this werewolf, yes?" Vivianne asked, frowning. She looked utterly perplexed. Beca nodded. "Hm," she went on, "you are continuing to surprise me, Beca. I will keep your werewolf friend in mind as we go more into this. But now I have some things to discuss with you that I would like to be just between us. Your friend wouldn't mind going with Emily for awhile, would she?" At the mention of her name Emily stepped forward a bit, her smile still just incredibly polite. She held her hand out for Aubrey to take and the blonde glanced to Beca briefly, then decided for herself that she wouldn't mind getting out of this dining hall and perhaps even getting some fresh air. She took Emily's hand and stood.

"If you need me, just come right back here," Beca said softly.

Aubrey smiled at her over her shoulder, ignoring the slight twinge of discomfort in her neck, and followed Emily out into the hall. "Could you take me outside, please? Some fresh air just sounds nice, and I'd like to see what the grounds are like. Is that alright?" she asked.

"Of course, miss. Just follow me," Emily replied.

They walked down a few hallways in silence; Aubrey mentally struck down countless conversation starters. Eventually she just settled with what was really bugging her. "No offense, but I thought you were a vampire," she said abruptly.

Emily slowed so they were walking side by side. "No offense taken, miss," she said, just barely letting out a soft laugh. "Most visitors the Mistress has are surprised to learn I'm human, too. It isn't exactly unheard of, but then, I'm not a pet, either. I'm not sure you know what that means, but basically I'm kinda surprised I'm working for a vampire myself." She gestured into a room that opened up and led the way to a grand pair of glass doors. Opening them, she bowed Aubrey through them into a tiny garden surrounding a cobblestone deck. Past the flowers the incredibly green grass slopped down, and on the very far side the tree line started. The forest seemed really dark, in part due to the storm clouds in the sky.

Aubrey turned to Emily as she shut the doors and stepped down to join her on the deck. "How did you even get this job?" she asked.

"I studied abroad here my junior year of high school, and I met Vivianne. At first she didn't tell me anything about her being not just a vampire but a vampire _princess_ , but when she did she asked if I would like to stay with her and work for her after I graduated. She said she'd pay me minimum wage, something Max and the Kommissar don't get, because they're pretty much servants." Emily went over to a stone bench amidst the garden and sat down, patting the spot next to her. Aubrey sat beside her. "I wanted to take a gap year before going to college anyway, and my mom encouraged it, so here I am. I didn't tell her anything about the whole vampire part of it, though," she added, shrugging minutely.

"Are you happy here?" Aubrey asked. Sure, she _looked_ happy enough, and maybe it was just the old-style outfit that was throwing Aubrey off, but she had a really nagging feeling. If Aubrey had been in her position she was pretty sure she would have immediately declined, varying on how long she'd known Vivianne; as was the case with Chloe and Beca, it was easy to accept them because of how well she knew them otherwise, and how much they meant to her.

Emily shrugged again. "I make about ten US dollars an hour, which isn't so bad, and I can make more depending on what I do." Her expression suddenly fell and she looked a bit like she'd said something she wasn't supposed to. She rushed to say something else. "And Vivianne is really nice to me still - we're more like friends than employer and employee - and Max and the Kommissar are kind and welcoming as well. They don't mind that I'm human. Also, it's _gorgeous_ here, and it's fun to be in a different country. It'll look cool for my college essays." She grinned, but her eyes darted about, and Aubrey's nagging feeling increased.

She decided to put that on hold, though, and relax Emily again so she was more likely to let something slip instead of Aubrey having to pry. "What's your top pick for college?" she asked, returning the grin.

Emily instantly brightened and that odd expression vanished. "Oh, I really want to go to Barden University. My mom went there when she went to college and she was part of this a cappella group called the Barden Bellas. She said it was some of the best years of her youth and that the sisterhood of the Bellas is something she's carried with her the rest of her life. I want to share something like that."

For a second Aubrey was too surprised to respond, but then it was like all her anxieties had been forgotten, replaced by excitement. "You're kidding!" she said. "I go to Barden, and I'm the current captain of the Bellas!"

"What?!" Emily practically cried, eyes going a little wide. "What a crazy coincidence! I mean, we might've met in just a year, but - wow! I bet you have just as many wild and sisterly stories as my mom does. How did finals and all that go this year? I haven't been keeping up on many currents in the US, I've been so busy here."

"We won this year," Aubrey said. The initial surprise was already wearing off and she was once again left with a whole mess of whatever else she was feeling. But she kept on an excited facade for Emily, because she really was excited for the girl, it was just hard to feel it in earnest with everything else going on. "Mostly thanks to Beca, actually. She really saved out asses - but don't tell her I told you that. I still have _some_ pride to hold onto," she joked.

"I promise I won't tell her," Emily giggled. She glanced past Aubrey at the doors leading back into the castle, shifting a little like she was about to stand. "I'm sure she and Vivianne will be done talking soon. Of course, we can stay out here if you'd like, or I can show you some of the main rooms in the castle." Turning over her shoulder, she half-heartedly gestured to the imposing mass of forest. "The forest isn't necessarily off limits or anything, but if you want to go in there you have to be accompanied by the Kommissar. She'd make sure you don't get lost or anything - she's got a lot of experience in fighting and survival. Don't ask me from what exactly, because I haven't the slightest clue. She doesn't like talking about it. I don't even know how old she is in vampire years although I'm pretty sure she's like in her twenties in human years."

Aubrey nodded, digesting the information. "Let's look around the castle. Those storm clouds don't look very nice. I wouldn't want to be in the forest when they break," she said.

Following Emily back inside, she glanced around, memorizing more details. If Beca was going to focus so much on Vivianne and Ned then she could at least make sure the environment they were in was safe while they did whatever it was they were going to do (a complete plan would _really_ make her feel a lot better right now). It was of her nature to be skeptical of things, and she wanted to be absolutely certain they could trust people like Emily. The vampire princess was a whole other matter, and Aubrey wasn't about to deal with that. She could get close to Emily - and maybe even the Kommissar or Max - and she could _learn_ things that way.

Maybe they were close with whoever Ned had working for him, help or body guard-wise (because Aubrey seriously doubted now that the Kommissar was anything like a maid) and she could get them to tell her what he was like amongst his fellow vampires, or if they knew anything about whether or not he was holding someone captive in his own castle. Either way, she'd see where she could get with this. Even if she didn't get any information it was still nice to not only be around another human but have something like a friend in Emily when she was in unfamiliar territory so far away from home. Regardless, she'd make sure she and Beca stayed on track and prioritized what was more important. Avoiding war, in Aubrey's opinion, could just be something that was more like an added bonus than the entire goal for their spontaneous trip to Romania. They came here to find Chloe and bringing her home, and that was exactly what they were going to do.

* * *

 _A/N:Yay, I finally added characters we all know!  
_

 _I hope my math for the time difference stuff is accurate lol. Also, I figured out Emily's minimum wage based on what it is in Romania and converting it to US dollars, but if anyone knows it's different or figures something else out just call me out on it. I'm trying to be as accurate as I can, so if something's wrong, let me know!  
_

 _I really don't know how long this story is going to end up being, but I have the feeling that right about now we're in, like, the middle._

 _Today is my birthday, so I've been waiting to update until now :) Please keep reviewing, following, and favoriting!_


	19. Chapter XIX

**\+ XIX +**

The nicer room didn't mean much to Chloe in the long-run. It was still a prison - she wasn't allowed out of it, and hadn't left it since her "appointment" a day or so ago - and she was still bored out of her mind. She also didn't know anything else about why she was _here_.

At least the only thing she'd been required to do as part of her imprisonment was continue to take two different pills, one unknown, the other apparently the concoction that limited her strength and speed. The other's affects she couldn't yet name. Whatever it was seemed to be slow-acting. Only recently - meaning within the past two hours - did it seem to be doing anything, if the sudden amount of itchiness Chloe felt meant anything. It was mostly her arms and legs, and now the backs of her hands as well.

She groaned loudly to herself, in part just to fill the imposing silence. She was lying on her big plush bed. Outside she could smell Gus' presence, but couldn't hear a thing, which she thought was a bit impossible. He had to make _some_ noise, didn't he? _Goddammit_ , she thought. There weren't even any bookshelves in the room for her to peruse through, just to find something to engage her brain with. She was feeling increasingly agitated as time went on. It felt like every minute she was becoming more and more fidgety.

A sound caught her acute, constantly pricked ears and she shot up in bed. Footsteps. Was it Jonathon or Lacy? She would actually welcome either of their company if it meant she didn't have to be alone or in this freaking room. But no, she didn't recognize the scent wafting to her from under the door.

"Can I talk to you?" a voice said, with an accent Chloe couldn't place.

"I can't leave my post," Gus responded gruffly.

"Then let's talk here."

"Can't risk the werewolf girl overhearing us, either."

"Maybe she's asleep?"

She heard Gus make a slight snarling noise. "Lemme check..."

Chloe moved as quickly as she could despite the medication, getting under the covers and pretending to be deeply asleep. Fortunately her heartbeat was calm enough to make it more believable. She heard the door unlock and open slowly, smelled Gus more strongly, then the door shut and locked again. She stayed where she was just in case they heard her get closer to the door to listen better, but made sure her ears were fine-tuned to their voices.

"Alright, looks like she is. What's the news?" Gus grunted.

"We've got Beca and the human at the castle. We're contemplating two courses of action - they will either be taken out into the forest and we can deal with them there, or they will be sent here. Regardless of what we choose it will be necessary to employ the werewolf," the other man said. Chloe felt her muscles tense. Beca and Aubrey (because what other human could they realistically be talking about?) were - wherever this was? Why? _How_? And what did they mean, "employ the werewolf"?

"Sounds good," Gus huffed, chuckling lightly. "Personally, I think you should send 'em into the woods. That'll be more fun on all accounts."

"This isn't about having _fun_. Hell, this isn't even about war. Beca is a problem."

"And why is that? Why's she so goddamn special?"

"From what I've heard she's a bit of a nuisance, but - more importantly - are you forgetting who her sire is? With Nadine in the Council nothing will get done once the King and Queen step down. And who even knows when _that_ will be."

"Honestly, Orion, why don't we just kill all of 'em? This pussy-footing around the bush is getting us nowhere."

The other man - Orion, apparently - let out an annoyed sounding sigh. Chloe assumed he was another vampire but then again she figured it would be smarter to not rule out any possibilities of him being something else. "This method will be easiest. Do you _truly_ want to attempt to murder the King and Queen all on your own? You're a stupid man, Gus. I blame your heritage. Be that as it may, this is giving us the upper hand. Simply murdering everyone would be harder to clean up or stage as accidents. Beca and a human being murdered by a werewolf in the aftermath of a peace treaty will prove that the King and Queen have made severe misjudgments - the backlash in our Clan will catapult the Prince and Princess into power more quickly, as the King and Queen will step-down or be voted out, as will be proposed in the event they don't go without a fight." Orion paused - Chloe couldn't tell why just based on her hearing - then chuckled darkly. "I don't blame you for not knowing how to utilize political strategies as opposed to militaristic. Do you not trust our lovely Prince and Princess?"

Gus snarled again. "Of course I trust them. What, are you doubting my loyalty? I'm in this for the long-run, Orion. And don't call me stupid."

Orion snorted. "What's the word on her medication? Is it starting to take affect?"

"Looks like it, but not really quick enough."

"Double the dosage. If she refuses it, you know what to do."

Chloe wrinkled her nose. _Ugh... that does not sound good_. She rolled onto her other side. How ridiculously lucky was this? Or coincidental - or perhaps purposeful. Maybe they _wanted_ her to eavesdrop on this conversation and therefore know a lot more than she was probably supposed to. At the same time she was still confused. So, what, they were trying to remove the King, Queen and Nadine from political power, and to do so they were going to have Beca and Aubrey killed? Well, no... Chloe couldn't ignore the "killed by a werewolf" part, however sick it made her feel to think they wanted _her_ to kill Beca and Aubrey. How did they expect her to do that? The pills - of course, she should have assumed that much, although she didn't get yet how that was supposed to work. She resisted the urge to roll over again and scowled, trying to get her brain to work through the fog it was in. The increasing agitation not only didn't feel like it was really her own but it was also making it difficult to think clearly, she'd noticed, especially right now. _How irritating_ , she thought with a short growl.

One thing she was wondering was how they hadn't seemed to think already about the backlash they'd receive from the werewolf community in forcing her to commit two murders. Didn't that have the potential to start a _war_? She didn't know how the vampire government or whatever worked but she knew not one pack of werewolves would be happy to hear one of their own was being framed for murder... then again, they'd probably think first that she killed Beca and Aubrey of her own volition. _Why does this have to be so complicated? Honestly, what the aca-hell is going on?_ Chloe sat up and glared at the door. Gus and Orion were exchanging goodbyes and she heard Orion walk away.

"I don't want to deal with any of this," Chloe hissed to herself under her breath, tossing the covers off herself and approaching the window. To hell with all this. She didn't want to be involved in some sort of political warfare within the vampires, she just wanted to go home and spend the rest of her summer with Beca and Aubrey, hopefully in a much more calm, less eventful way. Really, she was getting to the point where she just wanted this summer to _end_.

She glowered at the window, opening it - it opened towards the inside so she wouldn't have to break anything in order to reach the bars. Wrapping her fingers around the bars she gave an experimental tug, then a push. They didn't give. She growled loudly, baring her teeth at nothing, and let go to slam her shoulder against them. _That_ did something. The bars budged against her weight so she tried another go and the bottom part was dislodged from the castle wall. She smirked to herself victoriously.

The feeling didn't last. The door suddenly slammed open and she whirled around to see Gus scowling at her in frustration, what looked like a tranquilizer gun in his hand and aimed directly at her. She didn't have time to move. A dart hit her square in the shoulder and she immediately felt woozy. _Uh oh_. An incoherent string of words faltered from her mouth and she stumbled forward a bit, only to fall flat on her face. To her surprise, though, she didn't pass out. Maybe it wasn't a werewolf tranquilizer. She groggily turned her head to the side to see Gus approach, shaking his head and tsking at her.

"You're just trouble, ain't you?" he scoffed. He pulled a pill bottle out of his pocket and popped it open, shaking two pills into the palm of his hand. Kneeling beside her head he rolled her onto her back and shoved the pills past her lips. "Swallow those, won't you? You wouldn't want me to force 'em down your throat. Trust me."

Chloe did as she was told despite each and every one of her instincts telling her not to. What else was she supposed to do? She glared at Gus as he forced her to open her mouth, poking around to check if she'd really swallowed them or not. With a satisfied nod he got to his feet and exited the room. Chloe rolled back onto her stomach and somehow managed to drag herself halfway onto the bed before all her energy left her completely. She huffed to herself, closing her eyes, and imagined she was back home, or even back at Barden, with Beca and Aubrey. If they were at Barden she imagined they would be hanging out with the rest of the Bellas, just having fun... maybe they would be at a party with some of the other a cappella groups. She could picture Jesse joining them, could picture Amy and Bumper trying not to flirt too obviously even though it was _only_ obvious. She imagined Beca and Aubrey on either side of her as they sat on a porch watching some sort of riff-off style competition unfold before them. She and Aubrey would probably join in and force Beca to come with.

This whole debacle needed to be done and over with, but for that to happen she needed to figure out how to defy what her captors wanted her to do.

* * *

Chloe woke up some time later because of an unbearable feeling of itchiness. Her body slid the rest of the way off the bed (truthfully she was surprised she hadn't already fallen to the floor in her sleep) and she scratched at her arms in annoyance. Her eyes snapped open at the feeling of fur and she looked down at herself; not just her arms, but also her legs, hands and feet were covered in fur. Not exactly surprising, as she was a werewolf and fur wasn't _new_ to her, but it wasn't very often that a werewolf only _partially_ turned. Out-of-moon turning was one thing wherein a werewolf turned into just a really big wolf, and full-moon turning was also a completely _different_ thing. It was mostly unheard of - unless things went really wrong - that a werewolf only turned in increments. She supposed, at the same time, that this explained her random agitation. Now she also supposed she knew what those other pills were doing.

She recalled her mother explaining to her and Peter all the intricacies of turning, among other aspects of being a werewolf. They were still relatively young at the time, probably between the ages of five and ten (if she was remembering correctly, her mind still felt like it was in a thick haze), and that had been just about the only time Chloe had gotten a little afraid about being a werewolf. Her mother had described full-moon turning - at such a young age they weren't really able to remember much of their turnings, but that changed as they got older - and also went more in detail about out-of-moon-turning. She also hadn't minced her words about _forced_ turning. It wasn't very heard of, as the really old methods of such force had been labeled as illegal, but there were still chances it could happen. Just very low chances.

A coil of dread and nausea settled in the pit of her stomach, and Chloe breathed shakily through the urge of tears, shifting so she was sitting with her back against the bed. Forced turning usually meant one of two things; either she wouldn't be able to change back into her human self, or she would die. While she would rather _neither_ happened, she would definitely rather the former if it came down to it. At the time her mother had taught her such things there wasn't exactly such thing as a "cure" for that outcome of a forced turning, but years had passed, so maybe _someone_ in one of the packs had come up with... _something_. A way to more or less reverse the effects. She had to keep that hope if this was really what these vampires were trying to do to her. It made sense if they intended for her to kill Beca and Aubrey somehow. A forced turning really exacerbated the animal qualities within her.

She forced herself to her feet, still a bit wobbly from the tranquilizer. It wouldn't do to just sit and mope, on the verge of tears, when she could be figuring something else out. Outside she could smell Gus (of course) but it also smelled like someone else, besides Orion, had come by to see him recently. She could just barely make it out and couldn't for the life of her pinpoint it, if it even belonged to someone she'd met before. Rolling her neck, she approached the door, crouching down to sniff around the bottom. Whoever the scent belonged to was just on the tip of her tongue. It was another vampire, that much she could definitely tell, and the more she sniffed the more she could tell it _wasn't_ one she recognized. Who knew what that meant.

Her limbs gave a violent twitch and she snarled loudly at nothing, not even thinking to care that Gus would probably hear her. She closed her eyes tight and pounded a fist against her temple. _What are you doing? Pull yourself together_ , she chastised herself. At the same time she could feel some part of her being slip away - the human side. Was it just her, or was the hair growing, covering more than just her arms and legs? Her teeth felt sharp. She ran her tongue over them and her arms twitched again. In an attempt to calm herself she dug her fingers into the carpet, accidentally tearing it up a little as she hadn't yet noticed her claws had come out as well. She huffed in annoyance, scowling, and lashed out at the door. Three long gashes erupted in the wood. She snarled again.

"Hey! Stupid goddamn animal!" Gus yelled through the door, pounding on it a little. "Save some of that viciousness for tonight. You're gonna need all of it." He chuckled.

Most of what he said fell a bit muffled on Chloe's ears, in a way that simply made the language difficult to understand. She noted a hint of panic underneath the waves of roiling hostility and anger. This was it. No going back after it. With her last, fleeting moments of lucidness she thought about Beca and Aubrey as she last remembered them - not just having fun with her at her home, but also the image of the two of them kissing. While she still felt a bit conflicted about it (what if they only felt that way for each other, and not her?) it was a surprisingly soothing, nice memory to latch onto as she felt her human consciousness ebb away into nothing. At the very least, if they lived on and she didn't, they would have each other.

* * *

Trees. Grown thickly together in this area, didn't give much room to see ahead very far, and the mesh of her cage didn't help much, either. She shook her head, as if that would make the muzzle come off.

Empty. The slight smell of blood on the wind, intoxicating - from a human. She was really hungry. Her body banged into the side of her cage and she snarled, shaking her whole body this time, feeling thick with fur and the weight of strong, smooth muscles. She had the urge to thrash her jaws open and shut, but the muzzle prevented that.

Around her she could hear voices she couldn't understand. Three people walked around her and the cage.

Hunger. The smell of blood. Her head ached and something didn't feel quite right.

* * *

"Is the werewolf ready? They'll be arriving at the designated spot at any moment."

"Yes. We've made sure everything will go according to plan. There's no way either of them will be able to stop the werewolf. I must commend you, sir, for this concoction. It worked rapidly, and seemingly with the intended effects."

"Oh, I'm not the one who _created_ it. If you want to commend anyone, commend our lovely Prince and Princess. They've worked tirelessly to pull all this off."

"Well, they're gonna have to pull our limbs off the trees if we don't get outta here soon. The werewolf won't last in this cage much longer, and I really doubt that muzzle will do much if it really gets riled up enough."

"You're so stupid, Gus."

"Eat shit, Orion!"

"Both of you, enough! How uncouth of you. But you're right, Gus. We should be going."

* * *

 _A/N: Shit y'all. I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. I kinda fell out of the story for a little while, but I'm determined to pick it back up._

 _Sorry if this chapter felt sorta rushed, and that it's on the shorter side. I hope it'll make more sense later on. Thank you all for sticking with me through this, and I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway. Please keep following, favoriting, and reviewing!  
_


	20. Chapter XX

**\+ XX +**

Beca gazed out the bedroom window. The ground still looked pretty damp from the off-and-on rain they'd been getting, and for the first time since she and Aubrey arrived, the clouds had cleared to show a beautifully blue sky. Strong beams of sunlight cascaded onto the sprawling lawn, making the grass glisten.

Things were moving... slowly. She'd talked to Vivianne about all their concerns regarding Chloe, and the vampire princess had assured her she would be sure to keep that in mind as they dealt with Ned. But Beca's concerns were far from gone - in fact, she'd neglected to eat much since her conversation with Vivianne, because although she couldn't actually get sick, her stomach was clenching and she felt almost lightheaded she was so nauseas. What had she really been thinking, coming all the way to Romania and dragging Aubrey along with her? _We need to find Chloe_ , she reminded herself. _Before something bad happens to her_.

"What are you doing?"

She turned at the sound of Aubrey's voice. They had pretty free reign of the castle, in terms of where they could explore, and she'd noticed that Aubrey was taking every chance she got to look around. Beca felt her face warm a tiny bit, taking in the sight of Aubrey wearing a silky looking flannel top and tight blue jeans, her hair up in a loose bun. She looked tired, though. Perhaps a bit haunted? Beca's nausea returned so fast she was reminded of what it felt like to have the breath knocked from her lungs.

"Just looking out the window," she replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

Aubrey tilted her head a bit to the side and shut the door behind her, entering the room fully. Beca realized she probably looked a bit silly - she was standing in front of the window with her hands clasped behind her back, which really gave off a way too serious vibe. As long as _she_ seemed calm, Aubrey could be calm too. "Are you okay?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Beca hesitated, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "What do you mean? Do I not look okay or something?"

It was Aubrey's turn to shrug. "I don't know. You just seem..." She trailed off, frowning, and went to sit on the edge of the bed facing the window. She patted the space next to her and Beca sat down beside her. "I know this is all probably really stressful for you. It's not just Chloe - this also has to do with your... Clan... and I can only imagine how-"

"I don't even care _that_ much about all this bullshit going on," Beca interrupted. Aubrey quirked an eyebrow in questioning, her gaze wavering all over the place. _Something appears to be on her mind..._ Beca mused. "For all I care, Ned can start a war. Just as long as I have you and Chloe, I'll be fine. These things tend to work themselves out, and even if it's hard I know King Darragh and Queen Hedevi will make the right decision," she explained, sighing lightly.

The corners of Aubrey's mouth lifted in a weak smile. "Wow, those are some old names," she laughed.

Beca chuckled halfheartedly. Something else was weighing on her own mind that she really hadn't had the time to think about until now, what with the quiet of the castle and its grounds, and the fact that she and Aubrey had a little bit of calm between them despite everything going on. She cleared her throat in preparation. "Do you, uh... do you remember what happened before Chloe got kidnapped?" she asked lamely, staring down at the floor.

Aubrey scoffed. "That's a stupid question, Beca. H-how could I forget that?"

"Do you still think it's my fault that all this happened?" Beca asked. For a second Aubrey frowned in confusion, but Beca continued as soon as recognition lit up her face. "I don't blame you if you do, because I agree that it _is_ my fault. I shouldn't have - I _probably_ shouldn't have... kissed you. At least not like that." Closing her eyes, Beca shook her head, laughing in a more self-deprecating manner. "If I hadn't been so thoughtless, Chloe wouldn't have run out of the house, and no one would have grabbed her. We wouldn't be here in Romania, and Chloe wouldn't be... wherever she is. Instead we'd still be enjoying the rest of our time with her family before we went back to Barden for the rest of our summer, or whatever we chose to do."

She didn't open her eyes, although Aubrey's increasing silence was starting to bother her, tempting her to take a peek and look at the blonde. She almost flinched at the unrelenting way those pale green eyes were staring her down. After a few agonizing moments Aubrey glanced away, her shoulders rising and falling with a deep breath. Beca could hear her pulse start to race in a way that meant she was feeling nervous for some reason. _For some reason? Don't be so fucking daft_ , Beca thought, silently snarling at herself.

"Two things, Beca," Aubrey began, holding up two fingers. "One - well, there's no changing the past, especially not now that we're here. We just have to work with what we've been given." She paused, hesitating, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. She glanced away (already her eyes had been pretty squirrely, not focusing on Beca whatsoever, and now they finally settled on the floor as well, of course now that Beca was looking back up at her) and a blush rose across her face and all the way down to her neck. "Two... if you had the chance to _redo_ that kiss, what... what would you change?"

Beca felt her eyebrows jerk up practically to her hairline in surprise, and she desperately willed the expression away before Aubrey looked back up at her. She cleared her throat again. "I wouldn't have just totally surprised you with it like I did," she muttered. "And... well... Chloe wouldn't have been able to _walk in on_ _us_ like she did."

"What do you mean by that?" Aubrey asked, tone breathy.

If Beca's heart still beat, it wouldn't have even mattered at this point, because she was pretty sure it would have just stopped by now anyway. Her mouth had gone obnoxiously dry and she got the urge to clear her throat _yet_ again. "I mean... actually, I'm not entirely sure how to say this without it coming out sounding kinda creepy," she half-huffed.

Aubrey scowled. Again, she took her time responding. Finally she said, slowly and deliberately, "Do you feel the same way for Chloe as you do for me?"

Beca swallowed around a lump in her throat. "Yes."

To her surprise Aubrey's expression remained perfectly blank, and even her eyes gave nothing away. She nodded once and got up from the bed, brushing invisible lint off her jeans. "Okay," she said simply, moving for the door.

"E-excuse me?" Beca _squeaked_ , leaping up to her feet as well. " _Okay_? That's all you have to say when I basically just-"

"I shouldn't have said anything in the first place," Aubrey interrupted sternly, crossing her arms over her chest, and a little bit of emotion finally entered her eyes. Unfortunately Beca felt similarly at a loss for whatever the hell it was or meant. "We should be talking about this with _Chloe_. That was why we ran after her in the first place, right after it happened. I think part of me just refuses to really work through this completely until she's here with us."

Beca narrowed her eyes momentarily. Was it just her, or was at least a _part_ of that emotion some insecurity? Was Aubrey worried Chloe didn't return any feelings? If only she could read minds... "Alright, fine," she growled irritably. "We'll wait for Chloe."

"Thank you," Aubrey half-whispered, eyes casted downward for a second. As she picked them back up her chin tilted up a little and she developed a determined, all-business look about her. Beca arched an eyebrow in anticipation for whatever she had to say next. "I think it's time we take matters into our own hands, then."

"How so?"

"If Ned really has Chloe, then she has to be in his castle. According to Emily there's a way through the forest to get to his castle, which is on a bluff by the ocean. It's quite a hike and will probably take us the rest of the day, if not more, but I really don't think we should wait any longer. Who knows what he's doing to Chloe." Aubrey shuddered, her arms tightening like she was hugging herself.

Beca felt her shoulders deflate and she crossed over to the blonde, cautiously lifting her hands to rest them on Aubrey's upper arms in an attempt at comfort. "I get it," she sighed. "But I do actually doubt Ned is going... _too_ far. He might be an idiot but he isn't necessarily a bad person." She frowned and stepped back (to give Aubrey her space). "Alright, so... Emily is the other maid, right? The not super intimidating one? When exactly did she tell you about this route in between the castles?" she said.

"We've been talking quite a bit," Aubrey half-huffed, shoulders rising in the beginning of a shrug. "She's shown me around some, and we hit it off the other day because she said she wants to come to Barden and try out to be a Bella."

"Huh. Small world," Beca hummed.

"More... importantly," Aubrey went on pointedly, "she said she could probably persuade Vivianne into letting us explore the woods a bit with the Kommissar - yes, the intimidating one - and Emily thinks she's close enough to Vivianne that she can convince her coworker that she said it was okay that we go all the way to the other castle. Or at least close. I don't know how it's all going to work out but I trust her."

Beca frowned a little. Maybe it was just her, but she wasn't so easily trusting of Emily, and certainly not really the Kommissar based kind of on just how freaking intimidating she was. It wasn't really right to judge either of them, sure, because she didn't know them all that well, but that was even part of the problem. Vivianne had warned against exploring the forest - not that it would be _too_ bad for her, just apparently easy to get lost in, but bad for Aubrey. There was also some sort of unspoken rule between the two castles that any of the vampires in them could consider humans who wandered past property lines fair game. Beca wouldn't exactly be surprised if that included Aubrey, since she assumed Vivianne hadn't told Ned or anyone else at the other castle that she was... off-limits. As awful as that sounded. She also supposed it was almost too easy for her to _not_ trust her own kind as of late. If Ned was really behind taking Chloe, and the attack on herself and Aubrey when she went to meet him, then Beca had a bad feeling at the least. At the most... she was incredibly concerned for Aubrey's life.

"Beca? I asked you a question."

"Oh," she blinked a few times, forcing herself to come back to the moment, "sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you're ready to go, like, _right now_ ," Aubrey said. She too was frowning in a mixture of concern and questioning.

Beca wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of telling Aubrey she worried she could get killed, and instead vowed to protect her like her own life (afterlife? whatever) depended on it. She nodded, but turned towards the table in their room. "Yeah, let me just eat real quick. I should really have something in my stomach for this," she said, crossing over and pouring a well-sized serving into a chalice. She drank it in a way similar to how one drank at a party, not waiting for the taste to hit her before it worked its way down her throat and she poured another one. Aubrey just watched her, arms still crossed over her chest.

Once she was done Beca followed the blonde out of their room and downstairs; Aubrey clearly knew the castle pretty well by this point, as she led them swiftly into a room with large glass doors. Emily was waiting for them, wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie instead of her old-style maid outfit. The Kommissar stood at attention beside her. She still wore her gray camo. Beca glanced subtly around the room. The butler, Max (she had spoken to him very little, the other night when she'd had some drinks with Vivianne - he was Scottish, and certainly kept those drinks coming) was nowhere to be seen. He obviously wasn't in on whatever this was.

"Aubrey!" Emily greeted, stepping up to give the blonde a quick hug. Beca arched an eyebrow and smirked a little. "And Miss Beca, I-"

"Whoa, I'm gonna stop you right there, little one," Beca laughed. "No need for 'miss'. Just call me Beca." She glanced to the Kommissar. "Same goes for you - if you even talk. You do talk, right?" she teased, nerves getting the better of her.

The Kommissar gave her a slightly patronizing smile. " _Ja_ , you have heard me speak, have you not?" She turned towards the doors and gestured. "Emily tells me that Mistress Vivianne would like me to show the two of you how to get to the other castle through the forest. Are the both of you prepared?" she asked, giving her and Aubrey a once-over. She didn't look impressed and let out a short hum, leading the way through the doors and out into the garden. The four of them walked down the hill into the tree line.

There was an instant change - the forest was a hell of a lot cooler, most of the trees grown pretty close together so not a ton of sunlight reached the ground. Although the trees were all fairly clustered, there wasn't all that much other foliage. Mostly it was just layer upon layer of fallen, wet leaves from the previous autumn, and a few logs or stumps, probably from thinning the forest just a little. Moss grew on just about everything. Every once in awhile Beca spotted smatterings of flowers; it was easy to forget, then, just what they were doing in the forest, and what they would possibly reach by the time they got to the other castle.

"So I'm assuming this isn't usually the way Ned and Vivianne travel back and forth from each other's castles," she spoke up.

Glancing over her shoulder, the Kommissar smirked. "You are right. Score one for the little brown mouse," she practically purred.

Beca scowled. "I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."

" _Ist es wichtig_?" the Kommissar chuckled, and Beca looked to Aubrey in bemusement - the blonde just smiled back at her, giggling silently at her expense. "Here is something you might not know - this forest is hardly the place for a human," the Kommissar added, glancing over her shoulder again, this time to glare lightly in Aubrey's direction. It wasn't a nasty glare, more like a vehement "you shouldn't be here" look. In response Aubrey stubbornly tilted her chin up in a clear challenge. "You can have all the fight in you an army has, _Mensch_ , but that accounts for little when a vampire who doesn't know you is at your throat."

Aubrey faltered a little, and Beca snarled, "Hey. Watch your mouth." She might not be the princess, but she certainly had _some_ sway here.

"Yeah, Kommissar, come on. Lighten up a little," Emily half-whined, and the look the German woman gave her in return suggested the two of them had a decently close relationship as coworkers. Emily smiled at Beca and Aubrey, zipping her hoodie up halfway and stuffing her hands in her pockets. "It really isn't that bad. The more dangerous animals tend to leave us alone - well, not me, which is why I always have to come out here with someone else - and it _is_ pretty out here. The danger really comes when it gets dark out. It's a lot easier then to get lost, although for a vampire-" she shot Beca yet another smile "-it's not like you'd get lost for _long_. Aubrey and I will just have to stay close to the two of you." She practically skipped forward so she was walking alongside the Kommissar, to which the German woman's whole posture softened, and she gave the young brunette a playful push.

Beca almost said something, but figured it wasn't really any of her business. "How long does this hike take? Aubrey said you estimated pretty much the rest of the day," she said.

"Oh, yeah," Emily replied over her shoulder. "It's roughly twenty miles."

"Geez," Beca huffed. She noted (somehow she hadn't noticed it beforehand) that Emily had a backpack slung over her shoulders, probably filled with supplies - most of it had to be snacks and water for herself and Aubrey, and Beca bet she had some blood in there as well, just in case she or the Kommissar needed a little. Then again, they could also just hunt. Beca's ears were picking up the sounds of wildlife left and right, and while most of what she was hearing so far wasn't big enough to fill her stomach in the slightest, she didn't doubt there were bigger animals she and the Kommissar could hunt down if they needed.

"I will ask this again, but... why can't Beca and I just take the two of you there with our speed? It would save a lot of time," the Kommissar asked, and Beca nodded in agreement.

"This is just a casual thing," Aubrey answered. "Besides, it's nice to get out of the castle."

A clear hidden motive accentuated her words, and Beca wasn't surprised the Kommissar glanced back at her with a suspicious glint to her eyes. But she didn't say anything, and Beca allowed herself to relax. There couldn't really be _that_ much harm in this, could there?

They walked for hours, stopping occasionally for Aubrey and Emily to drink water and eat a little something; the hike wasn't too bad, only a few hills that didn't provide steep inclines, and despite the leaves being a bit slippery there was very little in the way of their path. By the time the sun was setting and making the sky turn orange and pink, Beca was pretty sure they were getting really close. Even without their speed they had a good pace the entire time. She estimated they'd reach the edge of the forest facing Ned's castle well before midnight.

She hadn't had the opportunity to ask Aubrey just what she was thinking. Yes, they were going to reach Ned's castle, but what were they going to _do_ when that time came? Certainly Aubrey had taken the time to remember that vampires were at their best at night - leaving when they did had definitely taken away suspicion (for the most part) but now they would be coming up on Ned and his... _staff_ without an upper hand. She glanced to Aubrey, walking beside her. She understood how much the blonde probably longed to see Chloe - she missed the redhead just as much, and every time she thought about what Ned could be doing, where he might be keeping her, created a new wave of near-crippling nausea. This maybe wasn't the best way of getting to her, though.

As the sun was just about dipping below the horizon, Beca called for a quick break. She waited for Aubrey to retrieve a water bottle from Emily's backpack before dragging her away a few feet, hoping that was a clear enough signal to the Kommissar that she didn't want to be overheard. To her slight relief and immense gratitude she received a nod of understanding, and the German woman turned away to carry out her own soft conversation with Emily.

"What's wrong, Beca?" Aubrey asked in a whisper, taking her hair down. "We're almost there. Chloe is only a few miles away!"

"But we don't really know that for sure, do we?" Beca hissed unintentionally. She briefly closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. "Look, I want to get Chloe back just as much as you, but we have to be thinking this through. Have you thought about how dangerous it is to invade a castle full of vampires at _night_? Night is our morning! Everyone will be wide awake!"

Aubrey scowled deeply, her expression a blend of hurt and anger. "I _have_ thought this through, Beca," she hissed back. "I _know_ Chloe is there. I can just... feel it. And I'm not so stupid that I think we can just walk through the front door and expect to not be noticed. As unfortunate as it is, Beca, some stereotypes are true!" She huffed in frustration and sat down on a nearby log, practically ripping the cap off her water and taking a few gulps.

"What are you talking about?" Beca asked wearily.

Capping the water, Aubrey whispered, "When Emily told me the position of Ned's castle, it reminded me again of Bram Stoker's _Dracula_. I even mentioned that to her and she totally agreed, because apparently vampires who lived in that castle before thought that too, and as a sort of joke made a few design changes to make it a lot like Dracula's. _Meaning_ , there's a way to climb up the side of the castle and either get into a room, or get into some dank tomb. Can you guess which one I'm aiming for?"

"Aubrey, oh my god," Beca snapped, feeling utterly floored. "What has gotten into you? Do you seriously think you can climb up the wall of a castle and get into some random bedroom? You've never been there before, what if it leads straight into _Ned's_ room? Or some other vampire's? Look-" she sat down beside Aubrey and gripped her hands, staring into her eyes with absolute seriousness "-I _know_ you want Chloe back. This might not be the way to do it, though. We know where the castle is now - we can go back to Vivianne's and time it out so we get here during the _day_ , so that way maybe we have the chance to take them by surprise."

"Emily told me that Ned and Vivianne are very slowly getting accustomed to the fact that nighttime is now their daytime," Aubrey countered stubbornly, ripping her hands out of Beca's. "I don't think it really matters what _time_ we come to the castle. And yeah, _I_ might not have the strength or ability to climb up and down a castle wall, but _you_ do."

Beca scoffed, inwardly flinching at how loud it came out and hoped it didn't gain any unwanted attention. "So what, I'm gonna carry you up to the window? Come on, Bree. Is this really the best way to do this?"

"I'm tired of _waiting_ , Beca," Aubrey snarled. "You said it yourself, you don't really care about the whole feud going on and the potential _war_ Ned might be starting. You and I just don't belong here, okay? Neither does Chloe. We need to go home, and there's no way I'm leaving without her. If you really feel the same way for her as you do for me, then you'll just shut up and go along with this!" In a jerky, angry movement she got to her feet and stalked up to Emily and the Kommissar, putting her water bottle back in the backpack and muttering something to Emily, who nodded. The three of them looked to Beca as if to ask if she was coming (well, Aubrey glared) and Beca stood, dutifully following after them. Her hands clenched and unclenched into fists at her side. She sighed as quietly as she could - nevertheless she saw the Kommissar prick her ears and turn her had a smidgeon in her direction.

Aubrey _did_ have a point... they needed to get home, and Beca would never say she disagreed that they couldn't leave Chloe behind. Aubrey was still worrying her, though. Where did this come from, exactly? She felt stupid for not realizing sooner how desperately the blonde wanted to not only get out of this place but also how much she wanted to just _get Chloe back_.

Beca mentally kicked herself. _What's wrong with you, thinking that Aubrey hasn't thought all of this through? Of course she has. You can go along with it and keep her safe at the same time,_ she thought. Her stomach clenched with a cramp and she doubled over a tiny bit, one eye twitching as she strained not to make a noise of discomfort. She could ignore her bad feeling revolving around what they were doing, or planning on doing, but it was a lot harder ignoring how little Aubrey seemed to want to talk about where either of them stood feelings-wise. On the one hand Beca understood wanting to wait for Chloe; on the other she was wondering if Aubrey only had feelings for the redhead and not her. Her stomach clenched again and this time she couldn't hold back a minute grunt. No one (expect probably the Kommissar) heard it. She felt a sting behind her eyes - the threat of tears - and stared down at her feet.

They finally reached the other edge of the forest around ten o'clock (they might be in a different time zone, but Beca could very finely read the moon - and the sun, for that matter - and guess approximately what time it was; she also had her phone on her). It was dark, mostly because the moon wasn't all that full at all, but at least there weren't too many clouds making it worse. The four of them stopped, one foot pretty much still in the forest while the other stepped out onto a steeper hill leading up to the front of the castle. There was less grass; it thinned out and became gray dirt, and the sound and smell of the ocean was very potent. Ned's castle wasn't nearly as close to his side of the forest as Vivianne's was.

"Well, there it is," the Kommissar huffed, gesturing up at the imposing structure. "Now I believe we should use our speed to get back home, or else the two of you will be too tired," she added, directing the statement to Emily and Aubrey. Beca noticed the young brunette looked incredibly awkward and she wasn't meeting the German woman's eyes. In an instant they changed from their human-like blue-gray to a surprising, bright purple. She obviously knew _something_ was up now, judging by the alarm on her face, and Beca realized that perhaps her and Emily's relationship was even closer than she had previously thought.

"So, uh... Kommissar," Emily half-squeaked, and she cleared her throat before continuing, "I, um..."

"Spit it out," the Kommissar hissed.

"Look, they just kinda want to sneak into the castle real quick and see if they can find their friend!" Emily blurted. A short beat passed and she slapped a hand over her mouth, shooting Aubrey an appalled and apologetic look.

The Kommissar stiffened, her shoulders rolling back a little, and she suddenly seemed a bit taller than usual. "You told me the Mistress only asked that we take them through the forest so they could _see_ where the other castle is. I am not allowing them to go anywhere near it. We -nor they - have been authorized do to so," she growled.

Emily shrank underneath her stern, angered gaze. "I-I understand that, but all they want is to make sure their friend isn't there!"

"And if she is? What will they do then?"

"I don't know!"

"Look, uh, Kommissar," Beca interjected, because this wasn't really getting them anywhere. The German woman whirled on her, suddenly in her vampire form, and bared her glistening fangs at her. They weren't as thin as Beca's, and looked like they'd gotten a lot more use. Beca held up her hands and took a small step back. "Hey, we don't want _trouble_ or anything. Nobody needs to know about this. In fact, if we find our friend there, we're gonna be going back to the States as soon as possible. I'm sorry, but I don't really want all that much to do with this brewing war or whatever - when we leave, you can tell Vivianne that she should just tell the King and Queen her suspicions about Ned. I know it'll be hard and she wants to protect him if she can, but it's the best thing to do."

As she spoke the Kommissar's face relaxed, her lips falling back over her teeth, and she reverted back to her human form. It wasn't out of a calm that Beca was reassuring her with - it was more out of confliction, and her sharp brows drew together in what actually looked like anxiety. Beca wasn't sure if she should ask about it or not. The Kommissar sighed, glanced to Emily - the young brunette wore a similar expression, and she wouldn't look at either Beca or Aubrey - and muttered, "Fine. But you... you must hurry. We should be getting back to the castle, _schnellstmöglich_. Mistress Vivianne will not want us to be staying out so late."

Beca nodded slowly. "Okay. Thank you." She offered her hand to Aubrey, and the second the blonde took it she used her speed to get them all the way to the castle, backs pressed against the wall so they couldn't be seen from any of the windows facing the front. She tugged Aubrey along towards the cliff side. "Where's the window we're looking for?" she whispered, glancing back over her shoulder.

Aubrey looked a bit stunned from how quickly they crossed to the castle. "It's directly facing the ocean. I don't know how easy it will be to climb up to it directly," she replied.

There was about three feet between the castle wall and the edge of the cliff - below them the ocean waves crashed against sharp rocks. Beca made sure Aubrey didn't slip or trip on anything as she was unlikely to see where she was going, and glanced up occasionally to judge where they were. Eventually they came around to a window directly above them and she pointed up as if to ask if it was the right one. Aubrey squinted up and nodded.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to shift into my vampire form for this," Beca warned, waiting for another nod before doing so. She caught Aubrey shiver a little. "Jump on my back and wrap your arms and legs around me. Don't worry about holding on too tight, it's not like I have to breathe." She turned, and Aubrey jumped onto her back piggy-back style. She paused to make sure the blonde was comfortable enough, then kicked her shoes off and dug her claws into the spaces between each stone that made up the wall. Utilizing her speed again she got them all the way up to the window in about three minutes. "Think you can open it?" she grunted, clutching the windowsill. Aubrey's arms unwrapped from around her neck and she threaded one through some bars, giving the window an experimental push. It appeared to already be open a tiny bit (or just not shut all the way) and it eased open silently.

"What about the bars?" Aubrey whispered.

"Hold onto the windowsill for me," Beca instructed, and once Aubrey's grip was secure, she took the bars in her hands and yanked it off. They lurched backwards a bit and Aubrey let out the beginnings of a yelp - Beca dropped the bars and sort of kicked them so they fell off to the side at the same time she grabbed the windowsill again, this time on the other side of the open window. She heaved them both up into the room and Aubrey slipped down to her feet.

The first thing Beca noticed was that the room smelled like Chloe.

In the dim light she could see the room was pretty orderly, very bland. The door had a few claw marks in it, as did the carpet in front of it.

"Okay, so I guess we just take a look around?" Aubrey asked, voice hardly loud enough to be heard if Beca's hearing wasn't so much better than a human's.

"I'm not sure if there's any need," Beca huffed. She moved for the door and silently turned the knob - it was unlocked. "I can tell that Chloe has been here. Come on, maybe we can at least find where they moved her?"

Aubrey's expression fell. "What do you mean? She was here?"

"Yeah, I can smell her all over the place. But obviously she isn't here _now_ \- the scent is stale and it's way too quiet. Come on, she's bound to be around here _somewhere_."

Beca led the way out of the room; they went down a few hallways and eventually found some stairs that got them into the main hall. Surprisingly, not once did they have to attempt to hide or go in a different direction to avoid anyone. The whole castle was eerily silent. Beca eventually figured that, if Ned was going to be awful, he'd keep Chloe in a prison of sorts. Now it was a question of where it was. This castle had too many winding hallways (and probably way too many secret passages and rooms), and Beca was a bit surprised this was _Ned's_. She smirked a little to herself as she and Aubrey walked through the dining hall, thinking about how often Ned probably got lost. Maybe that was why they hadn't run into anyone.

They found their way into a library, and in the darkness Beca could make out a portrait. She approached it, leaving Aubrey to whatever investigation she was conducting herself. It was a family portrait of Ned, Vivianne, and the King and Queen. On the mantel beneath it was a folded card, propped up so the name on it was visible. Beca scowled. It was addressed to Vivianne. She snatched it off the mantel, not much caring if she disturbed anything, and opened it. The message was brief and all around unimportant. At the bottom it was signed by none other than Ned (in his actual handwriting, which suggested he'd had someone else write Vivianne's name on the front so that it actually looked nice).

Beca stared at the card for what felt like an eternity - and she'd been _alive_ for pretty much an eternity, comparatively. Very slowly she placed it back on the mantel and turned to Aubrey, who was facing a bookshelf and pulling books at random like it would activate some secret passageway. Beca didn't doubt one of them actually did, but they didn't have the time.

"Aubrey!" she hissed, swiftly moving across the room and grabbing the blonde. She had them all the way back to the room before anything more could be said.

"What the aca-hell, Beca?! We haven't found her, we can't-"

Clamping a hand over her mouth and ignoring Aubrey's glare, Beca whispered, "We have to get out of here. Something else is going on, and I'm afraid we've been lied to." She urged Aubrey onto her back and went to the window, hoisting them through it and starting the climb back down. It was quite a bit harder than the climb up.

"Beca, _slow down_ ," Aubrey breathed in her ear, gripping her fiercely. "What's going on?"

"This isn't Ned's castle, it's Vivianne's, which means we've been staying in Ned's this whole time. Chloe _was_ here, but she certainly isn't now."

"Wh-what does that mean?"

"It means - I don't know! Just listen, okay? Once we get back to the front of the castle, I'm going to just run into the depths of the forest. I'm sorry to say it but I think Emily and the Kommissar might be in on this - I can't trust them right now. We'll get to the castle and gather our shit, then we're gonna take a car and drive away."

Aubrey squirmed and Beca stilled, worried the blonde would slip. "Beca, we are _not_ leaving without Chloe!" she snapped.

"No, we're not! It just isn't safe to stay around _either_ castles, okay? We're gonna distance ourselves and figure out another plan. Then we'll come back to get Chloe, whether that means storming Vivianne's castle or Ned's." Sensing that Aubrey wasn't going to move anymore, Beca continued to take them to the ground. The second her feet felt flat dirt Aubrey got off her back and she put her shoes back on. She paused to take in the blonde's expression in the dark - Aubrey shivered a little again and she realized she'd neglected to change out of her vampire form at all, but she was much more concerned about the way Aubrey looked. Scared, for one thing. On the verge of tears. Her lower lip quivered violently.

Beca huffed out a very short sigh and grabbed her, this time hoisting her off the ground bridal style, and sprinted into the woods. Her aim was to get them all the way back to the castle they were staying at, but a sudden, _hot_ pain in her leg caused her to fall, a sharp cry of pain erupting from her throat. She and Aubrey tumbled to the damp ground. She grabbed her leg, feeling her pants becoming wet, and recognized what had happened. Somehow, she'd just been shot by a silver bullet. Not anything to kill her - just something to get her to stop running.

"Beca?! Beca, oh my god!" Aubrey cried, scrambling to her side. "What happened? Are you okay? Beca, talk to me!"

"Someone shot me," Beca snarled through clenched teeth.

Aubrey opened her mouth to say something but she was interrupted by the sound of another shot; she screamed, and Beca's eyes widened at the sight of blood gushing from her shoulder. Luckily the bullet had only skimmed through her flesh instead of going into bone - still, it had to _hurt_ , and it meant they _really_ weren't safe. Beca managed to get to her uninjured foot and got them both behind a log and some big rocks, hopefully out of their attacker's range. Aubrey whimpered and clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound, her other hand pressed on the heavily bleeding wound in her right shoulder.

Beca swallowed, panting despite not needing to. "Aubrey, I need you to do me a huge favor, please," she hissed. Aubrey looked to her with tears streaming down her face. "Can you... can you stick your fingers into this bullet hole and get the bullet out? It's silver, and it _hurts_ , and I can't touch it. As long as it's in there I can't heal myself."

Whimpering a little more, Aubrey nodded, positioning herself so she was on the right side. Beca closed her eyes and felt fingers brush around the injury - she grit her teeth against the anticipated pain, but that didn't stop her from yelling sharply as Aubrey dug two fingers into the bullet hole, wiggling inside her leg for the bullet. Tears of her own emerged in her eyes and she awkwardly grasped Aubrey's wrist, mindful not to grip it too hard and potentially break it. Aubrey let out a sob. Her fingers moved a bit more, then she made a sound that was more triumphant, and Beca could feel the bullet coming out of her leg, following Aubrey's fingers. She wheezed in relief as Aubrey tossed it to the side. It would still take a moment for her venom to work back into the wound (for now, whatever venom that was poisoned by the silver would leave her body in her dead blood); at least she would make a recovery. But Aubrey...

"Come here," she half-gasped.

"Beca, I don't need your venom again," Aubrey panted. She winced and moved so her back was to the log again. "Let's just get out of here, as soon as your leg is okay."

Hardly a second passed and her words were responded to by an echoing howl. Beca recognized it despite not _really_ having heard it that many times - even so, the feeling she got at hearing it told her all she needed to know. It was Chloe. And it sounded like she was close.

* * *

 _A/N: Oh yikes, y'all.  
_

 _Just some quick notes - I don't know, like, any German, so the Kommissar's dialogue is just from Google translate. If there's something wrong with it, let me know! Also I've noticed I've been making Chloe's POV chapters shorter than Beca's and Aubrey's (as of late), but don't worry, I will aim to fix that! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Till next time!_


	21. Chapter XXI

**\+ XXI +**

Another howl pierced through the silent forest, this one sounding even closer than the first - it seemed like everything else around Aubrey and Beca had run off already in anticipation for whatever was coming. Aubrey turned to Beca, who was staring wide-eyed in the direction the howling was coming from. She gave the brunette a shake.

"I-it's Chloe," Beca whispered shrilly, tearing her gaze away and onto Aubrey.

"It isn't even close to the full moon," Aubrey argued, but she couldn't ignore the pulsing fear running through her body, and a good part of her wanted to crawl into a ball and cower on the damp forest floor. "Come on, we should just go."

Beca stood with her, gingerly putting weight on her previously injured leg. "I'm telling you, it's got to be Chloe. Maybe they forced her to turn somehow? I mean, that wouldn't actually be all that bad, because then she'll be... lucid or whatever. Shit." She spun around, taking in all their surroundings. "I'm not entirely sure where we are..."

"We were going that - _ow_ \- that way," Aubrey said, pointing and causing pain to shoot out from the bullet graze in her shoulder. She kept one hand pressed to it in an attempt at slowing the flow of blood. It hurt a lot more than her neck had, though she supposed that was because she didn't have any of Beca's venom this time to help her heal faster. For a second she contemplated asking if she could have some after all, but the sound of something large crashing through the forest and rapidly coming closer to them halted almost all of her brain functionality and fearful adrenaline piloted her actions. She grabbed onto Beca and urged her back down behind their cover, peeking out in the direction of whatever was coming towards them. Beca hissed in disapproval but immediately silenced herself as the thing burst through the trees, coming to a stop a few measly feet from them. Aubrey couldn't see well in the dark, so she could only hear it snuffling around, seemingly near the ground.

She didn't need much more light to see who it was, though. It was clearly Chloe, just in her werewolf form - except _not_ the wolf-as-big-as-a-bear form. No, she looked just how she had when Aubrey learned her secret. Exactly like she had turned for the full moon, not like when she turned to protect Aubrey from Ned. Chloe stood on her hind legs for the most part, and moved on all fours. She was roughly the same size she usually was, just with all the fur and rippling muscles, and her face was elongated into a snout, her ears pointed and angled forward at full attention. Her bright blue eyes were ringed with black and red. Aubrey recalled the fear she'd felt seeing Chloe like this the first time, but it wasn't quite the same now. _Then_ she'd _only_ been scared; she was able to run and get away from Chloe. _Now_ she was hurt (thinking about it, perhaps the smell of her blood was what attracted the redhead) and technically so was Beca.

She tried not to breathe. Any sound, however small, would catch Chloe's attention. Beside her Beca peeked out from their cover as well, eyes still silver and wide with shock. If Aubrey could have her way once this was all over - she didn't think about the possibility that she could be killed tonight - she would make sure a decent time passed before she saw Beca _or_ Chloe in their more animalistic forms again. Maybe that was selfish. Maybe it was the only okay thing running through her mind amidst the hundreds of other things that mostly just suggested her life was on a thin line and if Chloe noticed them who knew what she would do.

The urge to breathe became too much, and Aubrey _tried_ to make it come out silently. _She_ didn't hear it, but Chloe's head snapped around and she was given an eyeful of giant, white fangs a second before Beca yanked her more fully behind their cover. They heard Chloe growl lowly, and the soft sound of damp leaves squishing under her paws.

Beca leaned so close to Aubrey's ear that she felt her lips and cool breath. "You run that way-" she pointed the way they were facing "-and I'll run that way. If she follows me I'll lead her far away and come back for you, then we'll go back to the castle. I'm sure all we have to do is wait for the night to be over," she whispered, and Aubrey strained to catch each word. She nodded and Beca held up three fingers in a countdown. The second she was down to one they both leapt from their cover and took off running in different directions.

Aubrey sprinted like her life depended on it - and, unfortunately, it did. Behind her she could hear Chloe's thundering paws and a few snarls. Beca hadn't said what they would do if she followed _Aubrey_. All she could think to do was just run, run, _run_.

Her lungs started to scream in protest after what felt like ages, as did her legs, but she persevered. Sometimes it was good to be stubborn. She didn't know where Beca had gone and she wasn't even entirely certain whether or not Chloe was still chasing her; the pounding of her pulse in her ears was too loud to hear anything else over. Eventually she slowed just enough to glance over her shoulder. The forest behind her was still and silent. She stumbled to a halt.

It was hard to catch her breath when she was simultaneously trying to keep herself quiet, just in case Chloe was stalking her as opposed to just chasing her down - she admittedly didn't know much about wolves aside from some nature documentaries she remembered watching in elementary school. The memory brought a teary smile to her lips. She could recall always loving it when the wolves came on, even though all the other girls would cry if it showed them killing a deer or whatever. Even then she supposed she'd felt a sort of respect and reverence for them. They were a beautiful, fierce animal. It almost didn't seem right that she was so scared of Chloe right now; would the redhead really hurt her? There had to be _some_ part of her, buried beneath those purely animal instincts, that knew it was her and wouldn't cause her any harm. Aubrey turned the way she'd come and was about to step back in that direction, determined to get through to Chloe, but a body slamming into her own tackled her to the ground and forced the little bit of breath she'd regained right back out of her lungs.

"Oh, thank goodness we found you!"

"Emily?" she half-wheezed. Hovering over her and whoever else was still on top of her was the younger brunette, noticeable mostly because she could see the outline of the backpack. The person atop her got up and she met purple eyes. The Kommissar yanked her to her feet and awkwardly brushed a few leaves off her uninjured shoulder.

"We're _so_ sorry!" Emily gushed, voice soft. "Just follow me - that beast is pretty much right behind us. We need to run!"

Aubrey dodged out of her grasp as she lunged forward to grab her wrist and probably drag her wherever, taking a few steps away from both her and the Kommissar. "No way!" she snapped. "You've been _lying_ to me! Beca said that other castle is actually Vivianne's, and we've been staying in Ned's this whole time. Why would that be a thing if Vivianne is trying to figure out whether or not Ned is actually trying to start some sort of war?"

Emily looked pleadingly to the Kommissar, who growled in irritation. " _Wir hätten etwas früher machen sollen_ ," she said in a quiet rush. "It was a bad decision on both our parts to go through with this. But Emily can explain it all - I must go find Beca. Go! That way." She pointed, and this time Aubrey didn't act in time to avoid Emily, and the brunette snatched onto her by the arm and started dragging her away.

"You better start explaining everything _right_ now," she huffed shrilly.

"Keep your voice down! That beast is going to hear you!" Emily hissed back.

"That isn't a _beast_ back there! That's Chloe, and she's very dear to me. She's the whole reason Beca and I are here!" Aubrey tried to yank herself out of Emily's grip, but the younger woman was apparently stronger than she looked. "Where are you taking me?!"

"To the shore! It isn't too far from here, and there's a boat we can take. As soon as Kommissar returns with Beca we'll sail it a few miles from the shore so, uh, your friend can't really get to us." Emily glanced over her shoulder; Aubrey couldn't tell whatever expression she was wearing. "Your friend back there... is she a werewolf?"

"Yes," Aubrey breathed (there was finally a decent amount of air in her lungs again). "Now you need to tell me what the _hell_ is going on, because I'm not getting on some boat without knowing if I can trust you again!"

Emily huffed out a sigh. "Kommissar and Max work for Ned. So does this other vampire named Gus, but he and this other one named Orion - who works for Vivianne - have stayed at the other castle to keep an eye on your friend. Vivianne's butler and maid, these siblings named Jonathon and Lacy, have stayed in that castle with her. I went to Ned's castle because Vivianne really trusts me.

"So, basically, the plan is to really undermine the vampire king and queen. The peace treaty between werewolves and vampires is still pretty recent, and by forcing your friend to change and kill both you and Beca, it'll show the rest of the vampire Clan that the treaty maybe wasn't such a good idea after all. The plan is for Chloe to die either way, I think, but the werewolves will hopefully believe it was her intention alone to do this, and they'll back out of the treaty. Maybe it'll start a war, maybe it won't. That's not what Ned and Vivianne are trying to do. The fact that _you_ are here too helps - vampires are really starting to try to integrate themselves in with humans, and if a human is killed it'll just be another sign that this treaty isn't working out, along with some other legislation revolving around the deaths of humans.

"Not only that, but they really need to get rid of Beca. It's a really terrible thing for a sire to lose their sired, and if Beca dies, it'll almost be like her sire does too. Not literally - and, I mean, Beca's already dead, but I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at. Anyway, they hope to get her sire out of politics. That way they'll have no resistance, either with dethroning their own sires or removing them through a vote from the public. Then they'll... be in charge."

Aubrey scoffed, shaking her head. "So it all comes down to some _political_ war?"

"Yeah, basically. But the Kommissar and I agreed that this needs to end. We don't know what will happen to Chloe, but we can at least keep you and Beca alive. Hopefully."

They reached the edge of the trees, and Emily crouched down, forcing Aubrey to a stop. In the vaguely better light she could see a small dock and a boat tied to it; two forms could be seen pacing along the creaking dock. Aubrey had no doubt they were vampires, meaning it wasn't going to be so easy to get to that boat. She looked to Emily, and in this proximity she could tell the younger woman was scowling in thought. They heard a rustle behind them and suddenly Beca and the Kommissar appeared a few feet away, both of them in their vampire forms. Aubrey felt a weird stab of betrayal towards young adult fiction like _Twilight_ for really romanticizing the way a vampire looked. In reality, they were quite frightening. She then felt a twinge of guilt for thinking that way about Beca but it was quickly pushed to the bottom of her list of priorities for dealing with, close to everything regarding their love triangle of sorts.

"How many guards?" the Kommissar asked Emily, and she and Beca jumped forward to crouch down beside them.

"Just the two. Both on the dock. Have either of you heard anything?"

"She's close," Beca responded, and - judging by the relative calm about her - Aubrey assumed the Kommissar had explained some things to her as well. "I think so, anyway. I can't pinpoint her exact location - we should just get on the water. Do you need help?"

The Kommissar was already standing and stepping out of the tree line, shaking her head minutely instead of offering a verbal response. They watched her cross the beach towards the dock, where the two guards had halted. They were far enough away that Aubrey only heard the initial call one of them gave the German woman. For a few moments the three of them stood talking to each other, then one of them started shoving the Kommissar, and the two of them shouted back and forth. Beca swore lightly under her breath and moved to stand.

Almost the second she did, Chloe burst out of the trees a couple dozen feet to their left; she didn't stop on the beach. She ran to the dock and barreled into the guard who wasn't giving the Kommissar a hard time. Aubrey heard cries of pain. The second guard went next and the Kommissar was nowhere to be seen all of a sudden.

"She's on the boat," Beca hissed. "Both of you, grab onto-"

Chloe whirled in their direction and bounded towards them. Aubrey heard Emily scream in fear, and she and Aubrey both leapt up and ran for the boat, hopefully with Beca following. Aubrey ran a wide circle away from Chloe to no avail. Something much heavier than the Kommissar slammed into her, and she hit the sand, her arms awkwardly pinned down by two hand-like paws. She blinked and her vision was filled with a gaping maw of not-so-white fangs. The smell of blood wafted to her on Chloe's thick, hot breath.

"Aubrey!" Beca shrieked.

"Chloe!" Aubrey gasped at the same time, desperately searching Chloe's wolfish eyes for any hint of recognition. Nothing. She attempted to worm one of her arms out from Chloe's crushing weight, but it hurt her injured shoulder too much, and Chloe was just too heavy. She gave up and went with plan B. "Chloe, it's me. Aubrey. Please, you have to know me. _I know_ you're there. Just... show me a sign. Please?"

Her response was a rumbling growl; some blood and saliva dripped onto her from Chloe's fangs, and she could practically feel the color draining from her face.

She heard a yell, then Beca was suddenly on Chloe's back, biting deep into her shoulder. Chloe roared and lurched up onto her hind legs, most likely with the intent of bucking Beca off. The brunette kept her grip and Aubrey could even just barely see her sinking claws in as well, and they disappeared past all the fur, and she heard the sound of ripping flesh. Chloe howled in pain and Beca released her, using her speed to grab Aubrey and get them to the dock. Emily and the Kommissar were both in the boat, preparing it. Littering the dock were the torn bodies of the two guards, and they stepped through pools of blood that were seeping through the spaces between the boards, turning the ocean a deep red Aubrey couldn't quite see despite the better lighting. She just knew it was there. And she knew they couldn't just _leave_.

"No!" Aubrey protested, dragging Beca back towards Chloe. To her surprise the brunette didn't resist as much as she knew she was capable of.

"Aubrey, I know you want to speak to her, but I don't think we can!" Beca cried.

"We have to _try_!"

Beca didn't protest, but the Kommissar shouted, "What are you two doing?! _Du wirst dich umbringen_! Get back here now!"

"We'll be right there!" Beca shouted back. She and Aubrey ran back onto the beach.

"Chloe, _please_!" Aubrey practically screamed. "You know us! Change back and we can get out of here!"

"She can't understand you, idiot!"

Aubrey whirled around to her right and spotted two more forms approaching them along the water's edge. She recognized Ned's squeaky voice and assumed it was Vivianne with him. Beside her, Beca stiffened in anger. In the meantime Chloe was writhing in pain and pacing back and forth where they'd left her, throwing snarls and barks in their direction.

"We have given her special thing, yes?" Vivianne shouted. "No sun will get her to change back. Nothing will! Do you not know what a forced turning is, Beca's friend? She will either stay like this forever, or she will die."

"You bitch!" Beca screamed, and in a blink she was attacking the vampire princess. Ned jumped in to aide his fellow sired. Aubrey watched helplessly, unsure how to help.

Chloe howled and Aubrey turned just in time to see her charging towards her. Her body acted of its own accord and took her running to the water. Chloe just followed her, and the next thing she knew she was standing in water up to her thighs and Chloe was leaping for her - but Beca came to the rescue again, knocking Chloe from the air and a few feet away before she could tackle Aubrey down once more. Water splashed everywhere, dousing Aubrey, and as soon as Beca resurfaced nearby she waded over and helped her to her feet. The brunette spit salt water from her mouth. A few feet away Chloe stood snarling at them.

It was time to make a bold move.

Aubrey urged Beca forward with her, and again Beca didn't offer any protest. She seemed to know exactly what the blonde was trying to do. They ran for Chloe - she was hunched over a little, whining in pain, but as they came closer she bared her teeth and started growling lowly. Aubrey glanced to Beca - Beca glanced back - and as soon as they were close enough they both leapt and tackled Chloe's furry body. They fell into the water.

Aubrey held Beca to her just as hard as she held Chloe. Soon her lungs started screaming for air, but it felt like Chloe's thrashing was getting weaker. She couldn't quite tell but maybe even some of the fur was disappearing. Right as she started to feel lightheaded and her grip on both of them started to falter, she felt hands she knew didn't belong to Beca grab her and hoist her upwards. She surfaced, gasping for breath and choking a little. Wiping her wet hair out of her eyes she first looked into Beca's - they'd returned to steel blue - and then into Chloe's own lighter blue. Surrounded by her furless face. And accentuated by her mega-watt smile.

"Chloe!" Aubrey and Beca cried at the same time, both jumping at her again for an embrace - luckily enough the redhead managed to catch them without causing all three of them to fall into the water for a second time.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Chloe whined, switching from nuzzling into Aubrey's neck and then Beca's. "Oh my god, Aubrey, Beca, I-"

" _No_!"

They all shifted so they were looking more towards the dock - the tide had taken them out quite a bit farther than where they'd started out, further from the boat, which was now untied. Ned and Vivianne were still on the beach and Emily and the Kommissar steered the boat towards the three of them, relying more on the tide than the motor.

It was Vivianne who shouted. "You can't do that! That is not possible!"

"Screw you, Beca! This isn't over!" Ned shrieked.

"Oh, I think it is," Beca huffed, taking the Kommissar's offered hand and climbing up onto the boat. Emily grabbed Aubrey, then both of them grabbed Chloe, who appeared to be awfully weak; her injuries didn't seem _too_ bad, certainly not so much that they needed immediate attention, but she could hardly even stand. Emily grabbed her a towel that she wrapped around her naked body, and Aubrey guided her to sit between her and Beca. The Kommissar moved to the steering wheel and turned the boat on. Aubrey glanced over her shoulder to see the beach steadily disappear into the dark distance.

"What a whirlwind!" Emily half-giggled, running her hands through her hair.

Some little light bulbs connected to strings of thin rope on either side of the small boat, and also above the controls, came to life. Aubrey squinted against the harsh light - even though they were pretty soft and provided a sort of firefly feel, it was the first light she'd seen since the sun set. She rubbed her eyes.

"You two are pretty hurt. Emily, there is a first aid kit in that cupboard," the Kommissar observed, pointing with her boot. She glanced back to see how far they'd gone and cut the engine while Emily pulled out the first aid kit and crouched in front of Beca.

She grinned. "You've got your venom, but-"

"It's really okay," Beca interrupted. "I'll be fine. Here, give that to Aubrey." She raised her eyebrows as if to tell Emily the three of them needed a moment in private (or as much privacy as they could get on such a small boat). Emily nodded, grin growing, and got up to join the Kommissar at the controls. The two of them turned away.

In the new light Aubrey could really see how haggard Chloe looked. Although she didn't appear to be starving or dehydrated, she was definitely tired, and bite or claw marks littered her body, just hidden right now by the towel. There were dark circles under her eyes and they were a bit droopy. Her smile, always so strong, trembled. It looked like it was a struggle for her to just keep her head from lolling forward. And Beca, on the other hand, only looked slightly better. All the injuries she'd gotten from her brief tussle with Ned and Vivianne were already healing; she was mostly just pretty wet still from their ocean excursion. Aubrey assumed she didn't look all that better. Her shoulder stung from the feeling of salt water in it, and she felt like she was going to burst out in tears for a number of reasons.

"Oh, damn," Beca huffed. She reached past Chloe and took the first aid kit. "Your shoulder. Don't worry, I've got this. Do we have any water on this boat that _doesn't_ have a shit ton of salt in it?" She stepped away and in the second that she did so Aubrey met Chloe's eyes. What felt like a thousand words - unsaid - passed between them. She leaned forward a little and rested her forehead on her friend's shoulder.

Beca poured some of an unopened water bottle on Aubrey's bullet graze, and they used another towel to dry most of it so it could be bandaged. They observed Chloe's injuries - the redhead was being uncharacteristically quiet - and dealt with the few that were bleeding just a bit more. Then, wrapped up in her towel, she laid down and fell right asleep.

Aubrey couldn't decide who she wanted to watch more - Beca or Chloe. She ended up sitting across from the brunette on the other two benches around the end of the boat, so she could easily switch her gaze back and forth. Beca seemed to be doing the same. Meanwhile, Emily and the Kommissar sat as well, both giving Beca and Aubrey a decent amount of space. Aubrey took a second to look all around; the vampires sat on one bench, the humans on another, and the werewolf on the last one. It all felt too surreal. She looked back the way they'd come. Nothing but open water as far as the eye could see - she wondered what Ned and Vivianne were doing, where they went, what they were _planning_ on doing. Since their initial plan failed maybe they thought it would be worth it to just try to assassinate their sires. Aubrey sighed heavily; she wasn't the type of person who could go without closure.

"What happens now?" she asked softly, so as to hopefully not disturb Chloe too much.

"We will sail across the Black Sea to Turkey. From there, the three of you will take a flight to France - we know already that Beca's sire will be arriving there this morning, so you should have plenty of time to catch up to her. Emily and I will retrieve all your things from Ned's castle and meet you there. My thoughts are that you all will explain to Nadine what happened. After that perhaps we won't have to deal with this anymore," the Kommissar said, accent just a bit thicker with what Aubrey interpreted as exhaustion.

Beca shrugged and leaned forward so her elbows rested on her knees. "Sounds good to me. Then we can go back to the States."

"Will you be coming to the US too, Emily?" Aubrey asked.

"Gosh, probably," Emily half-huffed. "I guess I kinda terminated my employment by going against my employer like that... besides, I kinda _don't_ wanna get killed if I ever see Vivianne again, so yeah. Back home it is. I'll finish up my college essays and see where I get in."

"Aubrey said you wanna come to Barden," Beca chuckled.

"Yeah! I'm super excited. Hopefully I'll get in." Emily grinned cheekily at the Kommissar, who arched an elegant eyebrow her way. She'd thankfully changed out of her vampire form ages ago, and Aubrey admitted (guiltily) that it was easier to look at her this way. "You should go to college too, Kommissar. It would be fun. Hey, maybe if you went to some school in Germany you could join a _different_ a cappella group and then-"

"You're cute," the Kommissar interrupted, voice like velvet. A twinkle of amusement entered her eye. "College might not be the best place for me, _liebling_."

Emily pouted - Aubrey exchanged a slightly baffled look with Beca, and she could tell the brunette was wondering the same thing; how close _were_ the two of them, exactly? - and practically whined, "Ugh, Kommissar, you're no fun. A little change might be good for you. I mean, you've been working for Dumb-Head Ned ever since he became a vampire slash prince. There are a _lot_ of better things to do with all the time you have."

The Kommissar laughed, a bubbling sound straight from her belly, and in a few moments everyone had joined her. For Aubrey it was just part of the exhaustion, and one of those times when the body either wanted to laugh hysterically or start sobbing. Now that she was laughing she was pretty sure she'd be crying violently in only a matter of time. Her shoulders bounced from the force of her laugh-crying but she hardly noticed the pain in the one. She hardly even noticed Beca coming to sit beside her, snaking an arm around her waist in a show of comfort. On the other bench Chloe continued to sleep soundly. She looked a touch pale, but peaceful, and Aubrey was overwhelmed with a sense of relief.

In only a matter of time they'd be home, and they could start to focus on better things.

* * *

 _A/N: Y'all let me know if you thought the pace for this chapter was too fast. And the same thing with what I said for the last chapter about any German - it's Google translated, so there are probably mistakes._

 _On a totally different note, I didn't exactly mean to really suggest that Kommissar and Emily are so close, but after writing it I'm very nearly like "do I ship this?" so shit there might actually be a side of that in the future, and possibly other ships 'cause why not. (Idk what I'm doing sometimes lol.)_

 _Also don't worry, this isn't the end of the story! So till next time my friends~_


	22. Chapter XXII

_A/N: The first half of this chapter is kinda like a recap, and the second half is some liberal amounts of fluff. The italicized chunks in the first half are flashbacks._

* * *

 **\+ XXII +**

Chloe sighed in content, her feet dangling back and forth in the pool. It was evening, so the sun was setting and making the weather a bit cooler than it'd been the rest of the day. She was fully dressed but had wanted to come sit out here for a minute - to gather her thoughts and contemplate the ridiculousness that was the start of her summer vacation.

She'd woken up on that boat, body stiff and horrendously achy - much worse than any after-turning aches and pains she'd _ever_ had - and Aubrey and Beca had told her the plan. They'd get to Turkey and fly to France. Then they'd find Nadine, tell her a bit about what happened, and kind of go from there. By that point all Chloe had honestly wanted was to just _get home_ , but she understood there were some things that needed to be dealt with first. So, once they reached the Turkish shore, they bid Emily and the Kommissar temporary farewell (Chloe rather liked Emily, and after Aubrey told her about the younger brunette's desire to get into Barden, the two of them had talked animatedly about what it would be like to be Bellas together; she hadn't talked as much to the Kommissar, but the intimidating German vampire had been nothing but kind and considerate to her) and made their way to a special airport.

Apparently there were private little airports all over the world for the members of the vampire Council who lived all over, so none of them needed their passports (which they didn't have) or even any kind of ID (which they also didn't have) to get onto a private jet. All they needed was Beca saying she needed to get to Nadine in France. Chloe was pretty sure all three of them slept on the plane; Aubrey had seemed dead on her feet up until then, but she was revitalized by the time they got to France.

Chloe smiled down at the clear pool water, remembering how it'd gone seeing Nadine.

 **# # #**

 _They got out of the cab, and while Beca paid the fare with the few Euros their flight attendant had given them, Chloe and Aubrey took in the sight of Nadine's home with a bit of awe. It was a pleasant little villa, with a large courtyard adorned with two fountains on either side of the walkway leading up to the front steps. Ivy grew up the two-story house's walls. Chloe stumbled after Beca and Aubrey in a bit of a daze, in part because it was just difficult to move well; some parts of her body were legitimately numb, for example three of her fingers on her left hand were tingly and uncomfortable to move. Her skin felt tight and swollen, like she was actually made up of a bunch of inflated balloons. Every movement sent hot pain through her muscles. She shuffled forward a bit more so she was walking alongside Aubrey, leaning into her side for a bit of relief. Aubrey gently held her upright._

 _Beca hopped right up the stairs and rang the doorbell, eliciting a lovely sound. They hardly had to wait a full minute before the door was thrown open and Nadine appeared. She cooed and immediately pulled Beca into a hug, her flowing dress practically enveloping her small sired, a few bracelets on her wrists jangling. Chloe figured the desperation both of them were showing sort of had to do with their relationship and the fact that they really needed to be closer than they had been the past few days._

 _She released Beca and looked past her to Chloe and Aubrey. "My goodness, oh,_ mon petit papillon _!" she cried, flying down the stairs to swiftly relieve Aubrey of Chloe's weight. In the blink of an eye she was being pushed onto a ridiculously plush couch in what appeared to be the library or office of the house, and it was_ so soft _she thought she might just fall asleep again. Beca and Aubrey appeared, Aubrey looking momentarily thrown from the brunette's speed._

 _"We're sorry to barge in like this," Beca apologized, but she was smirking. It thinned out pretty quickly though. "There's something we really need to tell you about."_

 _"Beca!" Nadine chastised, placing her hands on her hips and looking down at Beca like she was a child who needed to be scolded. Chloe giggled a little. "Where are your manners? Both of your friends look dead tired! No pun intended." She glided over to a little bar and filled two glasses with ice water from a pitcher, giving one to Chloe first and then Aubrey. "What happened? You all look like you've been through something awful," she said._

 _"Well that's what we're here about," Beca huffed, rolling her eyes. "I really don't know_ why _I didn't just fucking call you-"_

 _"Language, Beca."_

 _"-way sooner than this, but the thing is, uh... Ned and Vivianne are... corrupt, I guess? I don't know, is there a codeword to describe that they kidnapped Chloe to lure Aubrey and I to their homes in Romania, where they gave Chloe some sort of medication that ultimately forced her to turn as if it were the full moon so that when they released her into the forest at the same time Aubrey and I were there she chased us down, and also that they planned to either force or vote out the King and Queen so they could implement their own shit?"_

 _For a good few moments Nadine was silent, her expression stony. She brought a hand up and shook her wrist to get her bracelets to fall in a more comfortable position. Her gaze, light silver, was fierce as it flicked back and forth between Chloe and Aubrey, who had joined the redhead on the couch (Chloe was trying to sit upright, so the pull of sleep hopefully wouldn't affect her as strongly)._

 _Nadine sighed. "_ Mon remords au roi et à la reine _," she whispered, shaking her head. "Tell me exactly what happened."_

 **# # #**

The three of them had launched into a giant retelling of the entire thing, starting off with the moment Chloe left the house - while leaving out the reason _why_ she'd left - to the moment they sailed away from the shore. Nadine had listened quietly, nodding along and only interrupting to ask a few questions. She'd contacted a few other Council members and someone who had a more direct line to the vampire King and Queen. Darragh and Hedevi. Chloe wouldn't have been as impressed with that if she wasn't then told that she, Aubrey and Beca needed to go with the French woman to the King and Queen's home in Ireland, to tell them what had happened first hand. They would wait for Emily and the Kommissar to arrive in France first, then all of them would make the flight.

At the very least, while they were waiting in the airport for Emily's and the Kommissar's flight to get in from Romania, Chloe had gotten the chance to call her mama. And wow, she could feel the relief through the phone like she'd been thrown into a cold ocean all over again.

She looked over her shoulder at the house. Where she'd grown up. Through the kitchen window she could see her parents and Todd preparing dinner. She turned back to the water.

They'd met King Darragh first.

 **# # #**

 _He had shocking red hair and a beard that could rival a lumberjack's. He was pretty much a giant, towering over anyone who stood beside him, and his candy-cane red eyes never blinked. At first glance he didn't really look like a king; he wore an immaculate, pressed black suit, making him look like an American hipster with the way his hair was cut and styled, and it seemed like his beard was the one thing he spent the most time on. And the most colorful thing about him was his hair - even the single ring he wore (his wedding ring, it seemed) had a bold black gem in it. Chloe only felt nervous until he smiled warmly at Nadine in greeting, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. He was definitely different than his two sired, and Chloe decided she rather liked him. He and Nadine exchanged a few murmured words before leading the way into a conference room - yeah, a conference room. They didn't live in a castle like their two sired, but instead lived in a mansion that also served as the home of a private business they ran. Chloe reminded herself to inquire about it further to Beca at_ some _point, because all she knew was that it had to do with vampire relations with not just werewolves but also humans, although as a front they were actually a firm for vampires in human employment. Or something. She was still kind of out of it and wasn't nearly as capable of taking information in as she should be. Her body hurt, she was tired, and she wanted this to go quickly and smoothly._

 _"Thank you all for coming all the way here," Darragh said, voice rumbling and deep, and heavily accented. He sat down - the table was a circle, so there was no explicit head. Everyone took their seats, Chloe on Aubrey's side farthest from the vampire king, Beca on the other. "While we wait for my queen, would any of you like anything to drink? Perhaps some food? I understand the two of you are humans, and you, my dear, are a werewolf."_

 _"Yeah," Chloe said. "And I do feel a bit like I'm lacking a lot of protein, but I don't want to trouble you with-"_

 _Darragh waved over a young man (well, if he was a vampire, and he probably was, then there wasn't really any point to saying he looked young) standing over by the door. "My boy, will you ask the cooks to prepare their finest steak meal? Thank you." The man bowed and hurried out of the room. Chloe thanked the king, trying to stifle a laugh at the appalled look Aubrey was giving her._

 _Queen Hedevi arrived after about three minutes. She had jet black, wavy hair that reached all the way down her back. Her eyes were a calm orange, like sherbet - Chloe recalled that was the color of Ned's eyes when he was in vampire form, except his were a bit more of an acidic shade. She assumed that meant that Vivianne's vampire eyes had to be some shade of red like Darragh's. Unlike the king, Hedevi wore more colors, mostly cool shades of blue, contrasting her dark hair._ Her _ring had a blue gem in it. Both of them would have been super pale even if they were alive. As much older vampires it seemed like they could more easily look like a vampire and a human at the same time; while their eyes were not natural colors, the only other thing that showed off their true forms were their teeth. They glinted and were obviously sharp._

 _She apologized as she sat down beside Darragh, next to Beca, and she smiled at the brunette in a way that reminded Chloe of the way friends of her parents looked at her when she hadn't seen them since she was a kid. "Beca, how mature you've gotten," Hedevi said in her own accented voice - it was a softer German than the Kommissar's - which kind of made her sound like how a goddess did in Hollywood movies. She turned to Nadine. "And my friend, you're looking well. Although I do see you much more often than I see your sired," she laughed airily._

 _Chloe exchanged a glance with Aubrey. This was insane. Even Chloe felt it, as she had never before thought she would meet a_ single _vampire, much less the king and queen!_

 _"Shall we get down to business?" Darragh asked. He frowned at Aubrey and Emily in turn. "Are the two of you sure we can't get you anything to eat? Drink?"_

 _After a bit more prodding the two of them caved - Emily quicker than Aubrey - and they got their food a little after Chloe did. She didn't start eating until after she'd kicked off the explanation of what happened, then Beca took over most of it. Emily and the Kommissar disclosed Ned's and Vivianne's plans a bit more in depth. All the while Darragh and Hedevi looked deeply concerned, their brows furrowed. They talked very little, hardly even asked questions, and once they were done (and the plates had been cleared) they were silent for a good while. Finally, they turned to Chloe._

 _"This medication you were given, it forced you to turn out of the full moon, but without invoking your self-preservation instincts?" Hedevi asked._

 _Chloe nodded. She was also spontaneously glad that she, along with Aubrey and Beca, had gotten the chance to shower and dress up their wounds a bit better before coming to meet_ royalty _. "I'm not sure what exactly it was made out of - I'm, uh, not in school to be a chemist or anything like that - but it did just that."_

 _"And how did you change back into your human form?" Darragh asked. "It's common knowledge that if a werewolf is forced to turn outside of the full moon or self-preservation reasons, then they either cannot ever change back, or they die."_

 **# # #**

Scowling down at the water now, Chloe tilted her head and drew one of her legs up to rest on the pool's edge, leaning her cheek against her knee. Even in hindsight she wasn't _really_ sure what had gotten her to change back to her human form. She'd told Darragh she had no clue, and Beca couldn't supply much of an answer either. Then she smiled, remembering how Aubrey had cut in to express her opinion.

 **# # #**

 _"If I may," Aubrey spoke up, sort of raising her hand like she was in class and needed to get her professor's attention. Hedevi gestured kindly for her to continue and she let her hand lower to the table; her other arm was in a sling, to avoid any unnecessary stress on her shoulder injury. "Beca and I were both trying to get Chloe to change back by talking to her. We thought there was a possibility we could get through to her. It didn't exactly_ work _, but then when we both... embraced her-" her cheeks lit up in a very faint blush "-after a little while she did change back. Maybe that has something to do with it."_

 _Hedevi arched a beautifully sculpted eyebrow. "Perhaps it does," she mused. "We are supernatural beings, after all. It's not so surprising an act of love or care prompted you to change back," she added, directing the statement to Chloe._

 **# # #  
**

Chloe smiled. It did make sense, even if it wasn't exactly the perfect explanation. She rather enjoyed the thought that it was an "act of love" from Aubrey and Beca that got her to change back. It also sort of just added to the sense that her life was turning into a movie or something, at least so far as the whole kidnapping and what not, but that was really just what she liked to tell herself. It made her feel better about it, vaguely. She'd already woken up once in the middle of the night, when they were staying overnight in the royal mansion, because of a nightmare wherein she'd been water boarded again - except, in the dream, she also had to watch it happen to Aubrey and Beca. She also had to see herself, in her beastly wolf form, tear the two of them to ribbons. Her body gave a slight shudder at the memory and she sucked in a breath, willing away the prickle of tears she could feel behind her eyes.

They'd left Ireland the next morning to return to the States, along with Emily, although she took a different connecting flight to her own home while the three of them came back to Chloe's. Her parents had picked them up at the airport, which was part of the reason why Chloe didn't want to cry much more. They could have started a flood, what with all the crying she and her family shared upon their reunion. To be fair, though, Chloe had more or less been convinced she was going to die, or never change back into her human form ever again. She was grateful to Aubrey and Beca for somehow figuring out a way to save her.

Which kind of brought her to the last thing she wanted to work through her head a bit more before dinner - despite Hedevi's comment about their "act of love", neither Beca nor Aubrey had said anything else about it. They also hadn't brought up the reason why Chloe had run out of the house to begin with. Part of Chloe thought maybe they needed some time to work it out themselves, and with each other as well, but the other part of her was ever so slightly selfish and wanted to just _talk_ about it already. She was ready to tell them how she felt, even if they decided they only liked each other, although by this point she was pretty convinced that wasn't the case. It was like the three of them were made for each other. Chloe wasn't going to just let that slide and miss out on the connection of a lifetime between herself and the two people she cared for the most.

Tonight was their last night at the Beale's. In the late morning they would start the drive back to Barden, and probably spend the rest of their summer there unless some really good plans came up. Chloe considered sending out a massive text to all the Bellas asking if there was anything _all_ of them wanted to do. It would certainly be a lot less stressful than the beginning of her summer, although she also couldn't _really_ complain about it. Sure, it'd been traumatizing, but she'd already started to deal with that. She'd called one of her pack-mates who she knew lived in the area, one of her mama's close friends who was a therapist and could help her work through this whole thing like no other therapist could. Other than that she was a little worried about how Aubrey and Beca were going to work through all these events. Her stomach clenched with anxiety at the thought that one of them - most likely Aubrey - was planning on just pushing it to the back of their mind. She huffed out a short sigh.

"Hey," she heard, and she glanced back over her shoulder at Beca; Aubrey stood a pace or two behind the brunette, looking sheepish.

"Mind if we join you?" Aubrey asked.

Chloe grinned. "Not at all." She patted the concrete on either side of her and they both came to sit down, and the three of them dangled their bare feet in the water. For a good while they were silent. Chloe wondered if Beca could hear the way her heart was racing with excited anticipation - were they finally going to _talk_? Seemed like an appropriate enough time.

Beca cleared her throat. "Aubrey and I just wanted to say that we're really glad you're back home, and that you're okay," she said softly.

"How are your aches and pains?" Aubrey asked, voice similarly quiet. She didn't raise her eyes from the water, but she was leaning in Chloe's direction.

"Getting better," Chloe said. "I've got my energy back and I can walk alright again. My body's just super stiff still, and sore. Nothing to worry about or anything." She tried smiling at the both of them; Beca returned it with a bit of strain. Aubrey still didn't look up.

"So we're going back to Barden," Beca half-sighed. "Either of you got any plans for the rest of the summer? I think I'll just be sticking around. Nadine still technically hasn't seen the campus, and she does have a house here too, so..." She trailed off. Chloe noted the hope that they would spend a lot of their time together, and she doubled her smile in a way of reflecting that hope. The _last_ thing she wanted was to spend time _away_ from Aubrey and Beca.

"I don't have anything going on, but maybe we can do some stuff with the Bellas, too," she said cheerily - only half of it was slightly forced.

Aubrey shrugged dejectedly, her lips curled down in a vague pout. "I... I don't think I have anything going on, no. Although I'm sure my parents will ask me if I want to come home for a bit. They certainly won't come to _me_."

"What about your brother?" Chloe and Beca said at the same time.

Aubrey _finally_ looked up then, looking mildly impressed, and the ghost of a smile tugged the corners of her lips upwards a bit. "I don't know, but I'd rather see him than our parents. Who knows, though." The sadness returned to her quickly and she glanced away again, visibly swallowing. "Anyway... we should probably be going inside. Dinner's almost ready." She got up without waiting for either of them to say anything, padding across to the back door.

Chloe swallowed a sound of irritation, and she and Beca followed her inside. Todd and Rose were setting the table while everyone else sat down. Her parents brought the food in. As soon as everyone was seated Peter raised his glass, smirking.

"Here's to having Chloe, Aubrey and Beca home safe again," he said.

"Here, here!" Chloe's dad cheered, to which her mama laughed boisterously.

Chloe made a point of clinking her glass against everyone else's, smiling although she sort of felt anything but totally happy at the moment. She really didn't need to think of any of that right _now_ , though. That was something for her to really sort out later. For now she just wanted to spend time with her family.

* * *

 _...1 month later..._

"Oi, oi, ladies!" Fat Amy shouted from behind the door, pounding her fist against it in extended greeting. "Get your twig asses out here! What's taking you so long?"

Chloe laughed as she made her way to the door to open it. Fat Amy stood outside the apartment with Beca, Stacie, Cynthia-Rose, and even Jesse and his dorm mate and friend, Benji. "Why don't you guys just come in?" she offered, stepping to the side. "Aubrey is probably going to take _forever_!" She shouted the last word so the blonde was sure to hear her.

"I resent that!" Aubrey shouted back from the bathroom.

"Wow, she really is taking her time, isn't she?" Beca chuckled, walking past Chloe just enough so that she could stand next to her until everyone else was inside and they migrated to the living room. They were primped and ready to go out to a new club that had recently opened in town, intent on getting their dance on - and also kind of their drink on. Rumor was that even people who were underage got served at this new club, adding to its popularity.

Aubrey was just taking her sweet time getting ready, although Chloe had never thought she'd see the day Aubrey was potentially _late_ to something. Sure, it wasn't like they _had_ to get to the club at a certain time, but still. Aubrey was one to be ready first, not Chloe, and Chloe had been sitting on the couch waiting for forty-five minutes. Everyone else arriving before Aubrey was ready made it all the more weird.

"I'm gonna go check on her, actually," Chloe said, glancing to Beca with a look that said she was welcome to come with. It was that moment that she really noticed what the brunette was wearing; instead of her usual jeans and shirt, she was wearing a dark gray dress that reached to her knees and had a deep v cut. To top it all off her hair cascaded down in thick brown waves and she wore open black heels that made her just about as tall as Chloe was normally. Beca arched an eyebrow at her hesitation - she was even wearing a touch more makeup than she usually did, some gray eye-shadow to match her dress and dark red lipstick - and Chloe shook herself out of her stupor, leading the way to the bathroom. She wondered if she had a similar affect on Beca, with her strapless navy blue dress that also reached about to her knees. Her hair was down as well.

She knocked on the bathroom door, but before she could even say anything, Aubrey whined from the other side, "I'm coming! Stop rushing me."

The door snapped open and Chloe was once again floored. Aubrey's dress was black, sleeveless, and once again a similar length. Her hair was down and her makeup very light. Her pale green eyes widened slightly as they ping-ponged from Chloe to Beca and back again. All three of them sort of just stood there in the hallway, speechless.

Beca was the first to speak. "Both of your hearts are beating pretty fast," she observed, then her eyes widened as well and she quickly backpedaled. "I mean, not like that's a bad thing or anything, like, dude, uh, shit." She closed her eyes tight and waved her hands frantically. "I didn't - goddamnit. I'm just gonna try to _stop_ talking. Chloe, you're up."

"What?" Chloe practically squeaked, shooting Beca a startled look, and she cleared her throat upon looking back to Aubrey. The blonde was blushing quite a bit, but in all honestly appeared to be loving the attention. Chloe wracked her brain for words and really just came up blank, so she let her mouth launch into autopilot. "You look beautiful," she spluttered. "You both do. Like - holy aca-hell, you're both gorgeous and I'm freaking out so I'm gonna walk away now before I implode." And she spun on her heel and went back out to the others.

"Is she finally ready?" Stacie asked, smirking knowingly.

"Yeah, let's get this party started," Chloe said, but her voice was still pretty high-pitched and she really didn't sound all that convincing. Fortunately Amy took it from there, and they exited the apartment amidst loud, pumped up cheers. Chloe locked the door and fell into step in between Aubrey and Beca.

It was only eight, but when they got to the club the line was _ridiculously_ long, so they had to wait almost two hours. Fat Amy came to the rescue again with hidden pre-drinks.

By the time they actually got into the club Chloe felt fuzzy from the alcohol. She'd been sure to not eat super soon prior, so it'd be easier for her to get closer to drunk with the rest of her friends. It was something she and Beca had agreed upon. They didn't really want to have to act. Then again, they also didn't particularly want to get wasted, and Aubrey had agreed with them on that. They planned to have a relatively chill night with their friends - they'd see how that went, and, knowing them, it probably wasn't going to be _that_ chill.

The dance floor was pretty packed, and the music played loud with extra base, making it difficult to actually hear the words of a song if there were any. Chloe reminded herself to tune down her sensitivity to smells and sounds, otherwise her ears were just going to start hurting and she would easily get distracted. She noticed Beca wince with every particularly loud thump of the base and smiled at her sympathetically. She and Aubrey got drinks for everyone, technically being the only of-age people (they didn't really want the hassle of testing the rumor about _everyone_ getting served regardless) while the rest picked out a table. To her surprise they got one all to themselves. She and Aubrey passed out the drinks - shots to start - and sat down as well. Everyone downed a shot and cheered a little.

"Alright, bitches," Fat Amy screamed to be heard over the music. "Listen up! Cynthia-Rose and I have got a pretty damn good night planned out for us."

"We're not just staying here?" Benji asked, also shouting.

"Nah, mate! Nobody get _too_ drunk here, 'cause after this we're going back to campus so those who are definitely sober enough can pile everyone else into a car or two."

"The next part is a bit of a surprise, but we can tell ya we'll be getting liquored up beforehand," Cynthia-Rose added. She pulled out a wad of cash held together by a rubber band. "Remember how we asked everyone to chip in? Well, here we go. Enough to buy two bottles, which should be more than enough."

"Whoo! Let's get another round or two of shots going!" Amy yelled. She gestured for Stacie to join her and the two of them headed up to the bar.

Chloe turned to Beca and Aubrey to her left, beaming at them both. They echoed it back with matching excitement. She was glad, since things had seemed a bit tense when they first got back to Barden. They'd gone a day without talking or seeing each other just to rest up and heal (Aubrey had accepted Beca's offer of a little bit of venom to help with the healing of the bullet graze in her shoulder after all, which was why there was no scar and also possibly why she was wearing a sleeveless dress tonight) but after that things had gone back to the way they had been. They were all close, with the promise of something _more_ lingering between all of them. The difference was that now all of them seemed to be completely aware of it, but none of them were doing anything about it. Chloe sort of hoped that maybe tonight was a push they needed; at the same time, she wasn't _too_ hopeful about it.

Besides, getting drunk and doing things haphazardly didn't really seem like the way to do things. Whatever it was going on between them, it was much more special.

After two more rounds of shots, Chloe took to the dance floor with Stacie and Jesse. It didn't take Amy, Cynthia-Rose and Aubrey long to join in as well. Only Beca and Benji remained at the table; they smiled whenever anyone came back for a few refreshing gulps of ice water (the goal apparently really was not to get wasted here) and politely declined any pleas for them to come out onto the floor. Finally, Chloe couldn't take it any longer.

She pushed her way to Aubrey's side, making sure the blonde saw her first before placing her hands on her hips and pulling her close to her front. She wasn't entirely sure why - she _was_ a very physical person, but recently she'd been a bit more careful about that. The heat from Aubrey's body was far more intoxicating than any amount of alcohol. Her mouth suddenly went dry as she pulled the blonde close enough so that her mouth was close to a red ear. Like usual, Aubrey was quick to blush.

"Let's go get Beca," Chloe said, trying not to shout _too_ loud since she was speaking right into the blonde's ear, but she also needed to be heard. Aubrey nodded minutely and made a move to start in the direction of the table. Chloe held her in place. "You know how she's usually so calm and collected?" she said.

"She wasn't really calm and collected right before we left," Aubrey countered, her mouth close to Chloe's ear and her hands on the redhead's shoulders. She seemed to be trembling a bit, but judging by the spike of the scent of her hormones and sweat suggested it was a good kind of tremble. Chloe could very clearly hear the labor to her breath; not panting, but she was breathing hard, and she just felt so _hot_.

Chloe tried desperately to refocus. "Yeah, but still. Don't you think it's time for a bit of payback? Think of all the times her cool charm has thrown us off. It felt good to really render her speechless earlier, didn't it?" She paused, waiting for Aubrey to nod. She didn't have to wait long and out of the corner of her eye she vaguely saw the blonde bite down on her lower lip. "Then let's do that, but even more intense." With that she stepped back just a bit, taking Aubrey's hand and guiding her in the direction of the table through the throng of people. She would admit that she probably wasn't thinking all that clearly. It wasn't the alcohol, although she could feel that quite a bit. It was just the feeling of Aubrey so close. She wanted to feel that more, but it also felt like something was missing. It didn't take a detective to know what that was. She grinned, most likely letting out a bit of her wolfish side, the second she made eye-contact with Beca. The brunette stared right back. Her eyes flashed silver.

"You two okay?" she asked, standing to greet Chloe and Aubrey.

"We're fine," Chloe said.

Aubrey stepped closer to Beca so the two of them were sort of cornering her between their bodies, not that she looked bothered by it. Even with her heels she still had to look up at them slightly. "Come dance with us, Beca," Aubrey said.

Beca tensed and her eyes went silver again, this time for a second longer. She didn't respond much more than that right away, but then she nodded and let them take her hands.

Once they were on the dance floor, Chloe and Aubrey started dancing first; Beca hesitated a few seconds more before joining in. Chloe couldn't even describe what was happening - it was like her brain truly short-circuited, and she was only aware of how she _felt_. For all she knew the three of them were actually standing still, just really close together, although she was _pretty_ sure they were dancing. Moving against each other. Sliding hands down arms, around waists. Her heart was beating so fast she almost wondered if she was having a heart attack. It was just Aubrey, and Beca, the feeling of their dresses - and sometimes skin - under her hands, and the smell of them.

Aubrey smelled like familiar things; home, matching shampoo and body wash. There was also her natural scent, which reminded Chloe of sunlight and something really clean.

Beca smelled like the cold; the way the pavement smelled after rain, metal and legitimate darkness. It reminded Chloe, unsurprisingly, of the night.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed on the dance floor. The world around them could have completely ended and she wouldn't have noticed whatsoever. Eventually she stopped, though, and for a moment watched Beca and Aubrey swaying close together. Her whole body pulsed with a searing heat. She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, again trying to focus. She was about to pull the two of them off the dance floor and take them somewhere else, somewhere a bit more _private_ , when she noticed Fat Amy and Jesse making their way towards them. Aubrey and Beca noticed as well and stopped dancing.

"Hey!" Jesse greeted. He was grinning, and there were a few glowsticks looped around his neck that hadn't been there at the start of the night. "I guess we're heading out for phase two of the night." Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, he turned and led the way to the exit, pushing a few people out of the way.

In hindsight Chloe wondered if anyone else had seen the three of them dancing so _intensely_ and _intimately_ , but in the end she didn't care that much. It was still their moment.

They turned to walk back to campus but something caught just about all their attention; the sound of singing was coming from the parking lot. And not just any singing. _A cappella_ singing. Chloe exchanged a wry look with Aubrey, and the two of them made for the parking lot instead, Beca, Stacie, Amy and Cynthia-Rose following a bit more dutifully. On the other hand Jesse and Benji seemed to share their excitement.

The singing group all wore leather, and they'd gathered a decent crowd with an impressive rendition of "Uprising" by Muse. It was all around a little intimidating, and Chloe wondered if this was a potential group to be wary of in the coming competitions next year. Then she realized all of them sounded like they had accents.

"Oh my god!" Beca laughed beside her, and she and Aubrey turned to the brunette in bewilderment as she literally doubled over with even more laughter. But when the group was finished and bowed for the cheering crowd, Chloe understood. At the very front stood the Kommissar, looking just about exactly how they'd last seen her, just sans-camouflage.

"Thank you! We are Das Sound Machine!" she said to the crowd.

" _Wir sind die Soundmaschine_!" the rest of the group behind her echoed proudly.

A young man beside her said, "We will be performing for numerous events over the summer as a part of our American tour, and be sure to tune in for the World Championship at the beginning of next summer, where we intend to be victorious!" The crowd applauded again and the group dispersed a little to gather a few props and such that had gone to the side of their performance after use.

"Jesus," Cynthia-Rose huffed. "Those guys are the _tits_!"

"They are not the - they are not," Aubrey argued, shooting her a tight-lipped smile. "And if they think they're going to win Worlds then they've got another thing coming."

"Since when is this a thing?" Fat Amy muttered.

"Would you look at that! Little brown mouse!"

They all turned their attention to the Kommissar, who approached them in a handful of long strides. She grinned teasingly at Beca although she also looked just a _little_ embarrassed. The young man who had been at her side bounded over as well and developed a smirk of his own, obviously picking up on the teasing vibe between his fellow singer and Beca.

"Wow, would you look at _this_ ," Beca chuckled. "Never thought I'd see the day you took someone's advice like this, Kommissar."

Chloe looked to Aubrey again; she supposed that, in the aftermath of what they'd gone through, the two vampires had developed a friendship both of them seemed intent on keeping intact. They also seemed to have a shared view on Emily insofar as the a cappella suggestion went, and Chloe distinctly remembered the two of them talking to each other when they were staying in the royal mansion while Emily had stuck with Chloe and Aubrey.

The Kommissar's nose scrunched up a bit and she chuckled a bit more darkly. "Beca, this is Pieter. Pieter, this is Beca and a few of the other Barden Bellas if I am presuming correctly."

"Barden Bellas?" the young man, Pieter, echoed.

"We're the all-girls a cappella group over at Barden University," Chloe replied. "It's nice to meet you guys. You sound really awesome!"

"And ya look damn fine," Cynthia-Rose added appreciatively, smirking.

Aubrey shot her a warning look, and Chloe nearly laughed at how easily she was reverting to her incredibly-competitive-captain-of-the-Bellas role. She straightened before the Kommissar, who smiled in amusement and also what Chloe took to be relief. "You and _Das Sound Machine_ sound very confident in your ability to win _Worlds_ ," Aubrey said, each word dripping in tactful deliberateness. "I think the Barden Bellas can give you a run for your money."

"You think you can win Worlds?" Pieter laughed. "I don't think I can recall an American group ever winning in the _entirety_ of Worlds' history."

"And for all we know," the Kommissar added, "you are all bark and no bite." She glanced pointedly - and with a playful twinkle to her eye - at Chloe.

Chloe grinned toothily. "I think we can give you a little bite," she purred.

"Yeah, don't you worry about that," Beca added cheekily in support.

The Kommissar's eyes, a neutral blue-gray, observed the others flanking the three of them. She smirked at the sight of Jesse and Benji now hovering closer to the back. "I thought you said the Bellas were an all-girls group?" she said.

"Oh," Jesse laughed, coming forward to introduce himself. "Yeah, no, we're in another a cappella group over at Barden. The Treblemakers. Kinda doubt you'll see us at Worlds - if the Bellas are gonna be focused on _that_ , then we'll take another win at finals here."

"In your dreams!" Aubrey guffawed. "The Bellas can win both."

"Eh, hold on there a second, Aubrey," Fat Amy cut in, expression slightly befuddled. "Don't you think that might be pushing it?"

"Come on, Amy, we're just having fun here," Beca said. She gave Aubrey a pointed look of her own, one that Chloe recognized well - she had often given the blonde the exact same look, the one that pleaded for her to calm down with the competitiveness (even if it was ultimately a useless request) because they didn't want to make an enemy out of whoever they were talking to. Chloe didn't exactly think the Kommissar would be likely to get pissed off by something like this, but she couldn't say the same for Pieter, and therefore she didn't want to put the German vampire in a difficult position.

Aubrey lost a bit of the tension in her posture and she huffed. "That's right, we are." She looked down at her heeled feet, crossing her arms over her chest. "It just isn't in my nature to not respond to a direct challenge," she muttered.

The Kommissar laughed genuinely, exchanging a look with Beca that Chloe couldn't decipher - but Beca clearly did. Her pale face tinged red and she avoided eye-contact. "Well then, Barden Bellas, Das Sound Machine looks forward to seeing you again sometime." She stepped a touch closer to Aubrey; her head snapped right back up to stare back defiantly. "And I really hope you _will_ rise to our challenge." She offered one last smirk - so did Pieter, but it wasn't _quite_ as good-natured - and the two of them walked away to join the rest of their group.

"That was _wild_ ," Stacie whispered once they were out of earshot (though Chloe assumed the Kommissar heard regardless, and probably got a decent chuckle out of it). "But, okay, are we gonna keep this night going or what?!"

Of course Fat Amy bellowed in agreement, and she led their posse in the direction of campus. It was determined on the walk that Chloe and Benji were the most sober - technically so were Aubrey and Beca, but Aubrey didn't want anyone to puke in her car and Beca didn't want to take Jesse's - so everyone got in their cars. Amy and Cynthia-Rose split up to give the drivers directions after the liquor store, and they arrived at their destination a little after one in the morning. And Chloe had to admit, she was surprised by the location.

They'd gone up the road that led to the old observatory, which had shut down _ages_ ago due to not ever getting much business. The building was in ruin and obviously the real destination for their night - no one was bound to bother them, and it had a spooky vibe to it that Chloe didn't doubt had attracted both Fat Amy and Cynthia-Rose - but it was surrounded by a garden that was now partially overgrown with weeds, although a lot of the flowers still remained and had thrived out of control. Chloe followed the rest of the group slowly, contemplating taking her heels off so she could feel the grass on her bare feet; it was similarly wild and had to be really soft, even the well-marked path leading to the building itself. They clearly weren't the first people to have come here for drinking and other shenanigans.

Inside, everyone lounged out on the floor and the spare pieces of furniture that mostly just looked moldy and infested with all sorts of things (not that Fat Amy seemed to particularly care about the possibility). The next hour or so was filled with talking, laughing, and the two bottles of liquor they'd bought.

At one point Chloe realized Beca was nowhere to be found. She gave the air a few light sniffs until she honed in on the brunette's scent trail; she followed it further into the building, out of the front lobby/gift shop, and came to a flight of stairs that looked like a real hazard. She carefully placed one foot on the first step, holding onto the railing just in case this one was going to be quick to give out. It sagged under just half of her weight. She figured it'd be easier to just use her speed and was about to do so when she heard the click of a pair of heels approaching her rapidly. Leaning away from the stairwell she saw Aubrey storming up to her.

"You okay, Bree?" she asked.

"What do you think you're doing? This whole building is enough of an accident just waiting to happen, and you're going to go up _these_?" Aubrey countered angrily, gesturing to the stairs. Chloe could really only smile. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

She didn't respond - well, not verbally. Instead she slipped an arm around Aubrey's waist and hoisted her up just a touch so she could carry her up the stairs with her. She set the blonde down at the top, feeling a bit like Superman or something, and explained, "I noticed Beca was missing, and I tracked her this way."

"You _tracked_ me?"

They looked for the source of the chuckle and found Beca sitting on the floor, legs dangling over the edge of a giant hole in the wall. It provided a wonderful look at the downtown area, all lit up and pretty, as well as the starry sky and half-full moon. Chloe took a brief second to acknowledge it - both Aubrey and Beca had been especially distracting ever since they got home to Barden, and she hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the calendar - before crossing to sit on Beca's right. Aubrey sat on her left with a minute roll of her eyes.

"You pretty much vanished, and I just wanted to make sure you were alright," Chloe said in response to the brunette's question. " _Are_ you alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm actually great," Beca said, flashing a grin that immediately made Chloe swoon. "It's just been awhile since I really got to just _enjoy_ the nighttime. My mind has been... preoccupied... lately."

Chloe didn't hold her breath thinking this was finally the moment they would talk. The way Beca's grin promptly vanished told her it just wasn't the time.

"Well, it certainly is nice out," Aubrey spoke up after a pregnant beat of silence.

"Yeah. I think so, too," Chloe said.

They lapsed into a longer silence. Despite how nice the night had started out - Chloe was still reeling a bit from the sensation of dancing with and being so close to the two of them - she almost couldn't help feeling a touch heartbroken. Then again, it was within her power to fix that. _Dammit, I'm not letting this go on too much longer. I have to come up with a plan_ , she thought, glancing sideways at Beca and Aubrey.

Oh, they would have no idea what was coming at them. Chloe just hoped that one, they wouldn't continue to be stubborn ( _I'm looking at you, Aubrey_ ), and two, they would like the plan steadily taking shape in her mind as much as she did already.

* * *

 _A/N: I really enjoyed writing the dance scene at the club lol.  
_

 _Also I meant to put this up yesterday but completely forgot! My bad._

 _If anybody has some little prompts they want me to (try to) incorporate into the story, I'm totally up for that! I'm really keen on the fluff rn. Technically though, since I'm like five chapters ahead of myself, I'll have to work any prompts in a decent bit later. Probably/hopefully when I get into the vague timeline for the second movie :)  
_

 _Hopefully it doesn't get weird like regarding who's in what grade since Aubrey and Chloe (in the movie) graduated/were supposed to have graduated decently before Worlds, I'm just kinda mashing the two movies together in a sense. If it gets confusing let me know!_

 _Again with the French and German, I used Google translate. Till next time - y'all keep reviewing, favoriting and following!_


	23. Chapter XXIII

**\+ XXIII +**

Roaring sounds of a party somewhere in the dorm building were enough to make Beca snarl softly into her pillow. She had grown accustomed to a different sleep schedule, sleeping from midnight to the following afternoon, so she had the "golden hours" of evening and early night to go out and do things. It made her feel a bit more comfortable, since vampires didn't exactly _thrive_ on human-like sleep patterns (i.e. being up during the day) and it seemed to work well with her friends.

Then again, the summer parties didn't help. Not with her keen hearing.

She'd asked Jesse about it, being pretty sure that it wasn't really a thing that college students stayed in the dorms necessarily during summer, but apparently Barden had a policy or whatever that allowed people staying in the frat or sorority houses to stay during summer. There were also just houses and apartments (like Chloe's and Aubrey's) that either stayed open or just so happened to be close to campus. And it wasn't like there was a ton of administration sticking around, so people tended to break into the dorm buildings for partying sometimes. Beca would be more upset about it if it didn't make her a hypocrite - after all, she'd broken into her dorm so she would have a place on campus to stay.

Unsurprisingly, Chloe and Aubrey had offered her their couch, since of course Aubrey wasn't okay with the idea of her breaking into _anything_ , and Chloe mostly just thought it'd be fun if the three of them were roommates. The thought of it actually frightened Beca, and she had declined. She would honestly rather stay with Jesse first, but he'd gone back home.

The end of summer was nearing, and part of the reason why Beca couldn't fall asleep (besides the obvious) was because she just couldn't turn her brain off. She'd had a lot of time to really think back on what had happened with Ned and Vivianne, who were now undergoing a trial or something as far as she was concerned - Nadine, as a part of the Council, was a part of it and updated Beca on it in vague terms.

Mostly, she'd thought about what had technically started the ball rolling.

That kiss with Aubrey.

Her body warmed at the thought, as it usually did, and if she could legitimately blush then she was sure it would be reaching all the way down her neck by this point. She sat up and threw her covers off, shifting so her back was to the wall and pulling her legs up to hug them to her chest. She sighed. The three of them hadn't talked about any of it at _all_ , which made Beca feel weird and awkward even though it didn't seem like Chloe or Aubrey felt it as well. And it wasn't like they weren't seeing each other at all; though they didn't have constant contact or anything, they hung out _very_ often. Beca just wasn't sure how to feel about it.

She had told Aubrey _twice_ that she liked both her and Chloe. The first time she'd sort of just let it slip while they were waiting for Peter and Todd to come back right after Chloe had run out of the house; the second time was right before they took matters into their own hands and got Emily and the Kommissar to take them through the forest to the other castle in Romania. Both times Aubrey hadn't really responded... much. Beca's fears got the better of her and she neglected to suck it up and talk to either her or Chloe. She was terrified that things wouldn't go the way she thought they would, the way she _felt_ they would, but she also knew the relationship the three of them already had was only going to suffer the more they put this off.

Snarling to herself again, Beca decided screw it - she definitely wasn't getting any sleep right now. She got up and dressed, exited the dorm quietly, and once she was outside she stuffed her hands in her pockets and just walked aimlessly with her gaze focused on the sidewalk. When she finally looked up to see where her feet had taken her she found herself at the empty swimming pool where they'd had the riff-off with the other Barden a cappella groups, and where the Bellas had found their new harmony. She huffed an empty breath out of her nose in a laugh, remembering the preceding events of their time in the pool. Then she scowled. Honestly, what was it with her - and the rest of the Bellas, for that matter - and not going a bit deeper when it came to feelings? She remembered everything the others had said when they were sort of trying to get to know one another better and realized all of them really had issues that were _brought up_ but nothing went further than that. Except, she supposed, what her and Chloe had vaguely said. At the same time, they'd only included Aubrey on that. The rest of the Bellas were totally in the dark, and Beca felt bad about that. After all, they really were a family - perhaps the best family she'd ever really had.

She shifted so she was sitting with her legs dangling off the edge of the pool. In doing so a rock or something fell down and clattered onto the bottom, creating an echoing sound. She flinched a little and gazed around just to double-check no one was in the general vicinity.

She knew, without a doubt, that things were going to hectic once school started up again, because Aubrey was clearly intent on keeping up a winning streak. Beca was pretty sure they could manage to win finals again, but the idea of whatever Worlds was gave an extra edge. She didn't envy the rest of the Bellas, who actually cared about school work as well, unlike her.

Beca groaned and leaned forward so her elbows rested on her knees, and she buried her face in her hands. What good was all this thinking and sulking doing her? She cursed to herself under her breath, cutting herself off at the sound of footsteps approaching the pool. Although she didn't think it would be that big of a deal if anyone saw her here she really didn't want to be bothered; using her speed she went and hid somewhere far away from the direction she could hear the other person coming from.

To her surprise, she found Chloe's scent on the slight breeze before catching sight of her shocking red hair. She went straight for a ladder into the pool and hopped down to the very bottom. Beca shifted so she could crawl forward, pretty much on her stomach, and approached the edge of the pool again. Chloe walked over to the deep end, which had a bunch of litter and super random junk in it, and Beca scowled in curiosity. What was Chloe doing here, and why did it look like she knew exactly what she was doing over in all that trash? Slowly and super quietly, Beca jumped down to the bottom of the pool as well, and followed her into the deep end.

Chloe started humming lightly to herself, totally oblivious, and reached out to grip a wooden board propped up against the pool wall (Beca was at a loss for why _wooden boards_ would be in the freaking pool). Right as she was about to move it Beca said, "Whatcha doing?"

Yelping, Chloe spun around violently. Beca watched the immediate hostility and surprise snap out of her eyes to be replaced by something a bit sweeter, and she smiled. "Geez, Becs, you really scared me!" she laughed. "What are _you_ doing?"

Beca thought it was really quite odd that Chloe hadn't noticed her long before she came up behind her; even if she was trying to be quiet, the redhead should have at least smelled her. Not that it was super surprising that Chloe was sort of off in la-la-land due to her excitement, which was apparent in the way she was bouncing on her heels. Beca tilted her head to the side a little and returned Chloe's smile. "I, uh, couldn't sleep, so I came out here. Not for any reason in particular or anything - this is just where my feet took me. But you can't really answer my question with the same question," she said, laughing a little as well.

"Oh," Chloe giggled. She was gradually starting to look nervous. "Right. I'm just... Well, this is a really good place to get some thinking done. I couldn't sleep either."

"What's that?" Beca asked, pointing at the wood.

Chloe glanced back at it, then turned back to Beca with an odd grin, brows furrowed. "It's a piece of wood, Becs."

"Well _duh_ , but what's behind it?" Chloe didn't answer right away, and Beca took in the way she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and all playfulness left her. Beca stepped forward slowly, acting on a sudden impulse. "Is it, like, a secret or something?" she asked. "I'm good at hiding secrets, if it is. Although you in no way have to tell me if you don't want to."

Pursing her lips, Chloe glanced from her to the wood and back again. "It's... a secret, yes. I don't know if I can tell you what it is," she said quietly.

"Well then, can _I_ tell _you_ a secret?"

That got her attention quickly, and Beca couldn't help laughing affectionately at how easily the excitement returned to those bright blue eyes. "Yes! I'm unfortunately a sucker for gossip," Chloe gushed, inching closer as well so that there was very little distance between them. Just as Beca was hoping. "What is it?"

The second Beca recognized it was Chloe who had come to the pool as well, she'd been enveloped by a strange, strong feeling. It was like it was a sign, that the redhead had just showed up at the same place she was, and Beca would kind of be damned if she didn't pay attention to something like that. So the moment Chloe got close enough, her focuses pretty much elsewhere, Beca took a steadying (though not explicitly needed) deep breath to empty her mind, reached up, and pulled Chloe down for a kiss.

It lasted about a second.

"No!" Chloe abruptly yelped, pushing Beca away, though at the same time it looked like she was having an incredibly difficult time _not_ grinning ecstatically.

Beca felt her shoulders rise with tension and her stomach clenched painfully. "No?"

"Yes, no! I mean-" Chloe cut herself off with a disgruntled growl, throwing her head back in exasperation. "I don't mean no as in - I just mean that you ruined my plan!"

"What plan?" Beca asked, voice cracking. Her throat felt tight; in her confusion her body was going with the reaction for a rejection, even though she was relatively sure that wasn't what was happening right now. It was honestly just like Chloe to throw her for such a loop when all she'd wanted was to finally break past the awkward barrier they had between them.

Chloe rolled her eyes and turned to pick the wooden board up and toss it to the side carelessly. Hidden behind it were a few stacks of papers. Scowling, Beca glanced from the papers to Chloe, who seemed perplexed that she wasn't understanding right away what any of this meant. She huffed and knelt down to pick up one stack. "This is probably just going to sound incredibly dorky out loud, but ever since the night we went out with Amy and Jesse and all them, I've been coming here to work on writing songs for you and Aubrey. I knew that I would act strangely enough just trying to keep them a secret that she would probably search around the apartment for answers, so I thought this was a decent place to stash them. I was going to sing them to each of you, and then I have a third for the both of you, and then I was going to declare my undying love for you and her, but you just went and kissed me and now-"

"Wait, what?" Beca spluttered. Again, though, why was she surprised? It was even more like Chloe to so nonchalantly say things like "undying love" without flinching.

"What part are you confused about?" Chloe asked, notching her head to the side much in the way a dog would. She barreled on before Beca could hardly even open her mouth. "It's fine though! Don't get upset or anything, I mean you didn't _really_ ruin anything, but now I kinda feel like I owe you a slightly better first kiss," she said, speaking very fast; she stepped forward again and pulled Beca close so their bodies were flush against each other.

Beca wouldn't admit to it later, but the unexpected contact literally made her squeak.

Chloe smiled gently (Beca was pretty sure, though, that it was taking all her willpower not to coo in adoration) and leaned down, pressing their lips together. Beca's mind surged with incoherent thoughts ranging from marveling at how _soft_ Chloe's lips were and how the redhead's body thrummed against her own. The sound of her racing pulse, something Beca had been too preoccupied to focus on up until now, made Beca a little lightheaded. That, and there was a difference she was starting to notice between Chloe and Aubrey. She knew the core temperature of a human was about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, mostly because it was a vampire skill to be able to gauge such a thing, but Chloe's core temperature was more like 135.6 degrees Fahrenheit - so a lot warmer than Aubrey, and undoubtedly a werewolf thing.

Beca used such thoughts to keep herself from totally freaking out about the fact that she and Chloe were having a full on make-out session, and she imagined the way Chloe's heart was thumping away in her chest would be a lot like how her own would be beating in this moment if it wasn't, well, dead. Chloe's hands rested on her hips and she realized that - at some point - she had wrapped her arms around the redhead's neck.

Chloe pulled back after a little while longer, clearly out of breath, and Beca acutely noticed for the first time in perhaps decades that she _wasn't_ breathing. For a second that made her feel oddly smug and she nearly grinned up at Chloe, but managed to turn it into a smirk.

"You're looking quite cocky there," Chloe purred, eyes narrowing briefly, and she shifted in such a way that made Beca gasp. "Should I wipe that look off your face?"

"You can try, but I think you might need to catch your breath first," Beca countered, winking. She pulled out of Chloe's arms and _instantly_ missed the contact, but there was a more persistent feeling of loss that had nothing to do with the redhead. After all the time Beca had spent thinking about this, the answer came to her quickly: they were missing _Aubrey_.

"Do you feel that too?" Chloe whispered suddenly.

"That feeling of loss? Yeah," Beca half-huffed.

"Aubrey," they said at the same time.

"We could just go wake her up right now," Chloe said, frowning. "I mean, I can always do the song thing another time. Actually, I think that if we were to actually wait for me to finish those, we'd never work this out."

Beca laughed. "Is it really that hard to write songs? I guess I wouldn't know, since all I work with is other people's stuff..."

The look in Chloe's eyes left her breathless, which was saying something, since she didn't breathe in the first place. "How do you write something that describes feelings that are basically indescribable?" Chloe breathed. "The words are in my heart, but I can't transfer them onto the page. It kind of makes me feel bad, because then I become uncertain about whether or not I will ever be able to tell you and Aubrey how beautiful I think you both are."

Beca stiffened at the unexpected, sincere compliment, some voice in the back of her mind screaming in disagreement. She didn't know how to respond and just stood there, frozen.

Chloe sighed lightly and blinked; that _look_ in her eyes vanished, but Beca was certain this wouldn't be the only time she saw it. Knowing that made her both anxious and impatient to see it again. "What are we going to do, Becs?" she muttered.

Beca shook herself, trying to get into a more focused frame of mind, although her entire body _and_ mind were still freaking the _hell_ out ( _This is really happening, shit!_ she thought). "I-I don't know how, uh, smart it would really be to sneak into Aubrey's room and wake her up to - well, I dunno, if we were just gonna talk to her it might be okay, but judging by how you so quickly abandoned your first plan just to kiss me again I have a feeling you're just going to do something similar with Aubrey," she stammered.

"Guilty as charged," Chloe giggled.

Beca arched an eyebrow in amusement, subtly taking a step _back_ so maybe her mind would clear just a tiny bit more. "I think Aubrey really deserves something special from us," she said quietly. "I mean, I kinda started this _really_ haphazardly."

"You mean when you kissed her and I got upset which led to me getting kidnapped and got all of us to Romania? Yeah, that was a little haphazard at _least_."

"Hey, I was going to tell _both_ of you the truth, but then the shit hit the fan!"

A flash of _something_ surged through Chloe's eyes, and she visibly shivered a little. "Did you and Aubrey, like, _talk_ about it at all?" she asked uncertainly.

"I don't think what we did could really be defined as _talking about it_ , but also kind of," Beca sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her emotions really seemed to be on quite the roller coaster tonight, and Chloe's continued nonchalance wasn't helping. "When we were waiting for your brothers to come back with you I did admit I have feelings for both of you to her, but she didn't exactly respond. She asked me again if my feelings were towards both of you when we were in Romania and when I said yes all _she_ had to say was ' _okay_ '."

Chloe frowned again, and she bit her lower lip (though, considering how Beca still felt from their kiss, all that managed to do was rile her up a bit again). "Well... she has had a lot to think about. I'm not really surprised that maybe she's prioritized things in the sense that working through her feelings is dead last. That's usually how she goes about things. I've come to understand it's a Posen thing, and since her brother has already defied that, she feels it's necessary that she _doesn't_." She glanced away, growling, and crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "To be honest, it might be better if I wasn't to meet her parents. I probably wouldn't last a _second_ without revealing myself..."

"Why, because they make you angry?" Beca guessed.

"I mean, I'm sure they really aren't that bad - I just think that the way they raised Aubrey made her the way she is _subconsciously_ , and... It doesn't matter. Not right now." Chloe looked back up and Beca could tell she was filing away her feelings on Aubrey's parents for a later date. Her easy, bounding happiness brightened her features and she grinned once more. "You're right, Becs, she really does deserve something super special."

"But... like _what_?" Beca snarled in irritation. "I think _you're_ right - she's definitely stubborn enough to not want to do anything about this."

"Or she might just be utterly terrified," Chloe said, and for once it seemed like the simplicity with which the statement rolled off her tongue even startled _her_. She scowled and deflated a little, gaze sliding downwards.

 _Jesus, it is just a Chloe thing that her moods are so insane, or a werewolf thing?_ Beca thought with equal parts amusement and something a bit more overwhelmed. "Why do you think she might be terrified?" she asked, but deep down she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. She just wanted it to be something different.

Chloe sighed heavily and didn't look up. "I think we might have just overestimated how alright she is with... us. It already takes her awhile to get used to _normal_ things - maybe part of her is never going to get used to being friends with a vampire and werewolf, much less _dating_ them. And that's not even mentioning the... the polygamy part, I guess. Or is it polyamorous? Either way, even _I_ am totally unsure about how it's going to work out, and I'm sure it still wouldn't be easy even if you and I were completely human, too."

Beca bit down on her tongue, surprised by how suddenly she felt a jolt of what she could really only describe as passion. "Chloe, we can't just do _nothing_ about this. Yeah, it's really kinda insane when you factor in the werewolf and vampire aspect to it, but... do you not feel like the three of us... might just _belong_ together?"

"I've been thinking that this whole time!" Chloe half-whined. "I mean, it isn't all that unheard of in the _werewolf_ community to have more than one mate-"

"The only thing _super_ new about this is a vampire and werewolf being together," Beca interrupted in agreement. Chloe nodded empathetically, and for a few moments they stood in silence. Beca broke it by groaning, scrubbing her hands down her face. "We're totally just thinking about ourselves..."

She heard Chloe let out another giant sigh and moved her hands away in time to watch the redhead start pacing back and forth, gesturing a lot as she spoke. "We are! We _totally_ are! And Aubrey's really been such a good sport about it, I mean, I know she typically bottles up quite a bit, but with all this she's probably just ready to _explode_! If we go at this with it rationed out in _our_ minds there's no way we're really going to be able to know how _she_ feels."

"So are you basically saying we should just _talk_ to her?" Beca interrupted, sensing Chloe was starting to completely spiral.

Chloe stopped pacing, looking like she'd just had a eureka moment. "Yes! Aubrey always appreciates honesty, and if we just go and tell her how we feel - well, we'd have to corner her first, just in case she tries to evade the conversation. But yes, talking. That isn't necessarily special but we can work with that, can't we?"

Beca shrugged. "We can just do the thing I've apparently made my go-to, which is just going right in for the kiss."

She laughed at the way Chloe instantly pouted, unable to help herself. "You said we _couldn't_ just do that!" the redhead whined.

"I meant we shouldn't just _attack_ or _surprise_ her with it," Beca corrected. She tried to go back to being serious despite the strong urge to just smile. "I already did that, and although it could have gone better had I gotten the timing right, I think this time we really gotta ease her into it." She paused, imagining the scene playing out in her head, and pursed her lips. Chloe shot her a look of questioning. "Do you think we should plan this out a bit better?" she asked.

"Not really," Chloe half-laughed, shaking her head. "I think all the three of us have done so far is just over think all of this. Why don't we just try winging it?"

Part of Beca wasn't too sure about that, but she told that part of her to shut up. As long as they still went about this with a gentle care, they could probably get away with it. She smiled and nodded. "You know what, why not? Should we go now?" She glanced up at the sky, which they could see pretty perfectly from the pool. The stars twinkled joyously, and the moon was no bigger than a sliver. Beca met Chloe's eyes again and saw her excitement reflected back at her. They both shared another grin.

"After all, it's the perfect night."

* * *

 _A/N: heh  
_


	24. Chapter XXIV

**\+ XXIV +**

Aubrey woke up for seemingly no reason; she blearily glanced over at her clock to see that it was pretty early in the morning, definitely not a good time to be awake, and she groaned lightly in frustration. Lately when she _finally_ got to sleep she would just wake up after a few hours and wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. She'd binge-watched more shows on Netflix than she'd care to admit in that time.

Still feeling half-asleep and groggy, she got out of bed, snatching up her empty water glass from her desk on the way out of her room. She rubbed her eyes as she walked to the kitchen, and as she rounded the corner she abruptly stopped.

At first she was just surprised to see that not only was Chloe up (and fully dressed) but Beca was there as well; the two of them stood over by the counter, whispering to each other, and normally that wouldn't bother Aubrey so much if only they weren't standing so _close_. She opened her mouth to announce her presence but any words whatsoever died in her throat as Beca leaned up, seemingly in response to something Chloe asked, and the two of them met halfway in a kiss. Her grip on the glass in her hand slackened and it fell to the floor, shattering.

Chloe and Beca leapt away, expressions of fear instantly dominating their faces. "Oh, shit-" Beca hissed at the same moment Chloe gasped, "Aubrey, wh-what are you-?"

Aubrey got halfway through a movement that would take her to the door, but she stopped herself. Running away hadn't exactly worked so well with Chloe, and she was _not_ about to have a repeat of all _that_. She awkwardly cleared her throat and glanced anywhere but at the two of them. "Sorry, I was just getting water," she muttered despondently.

"Goddammit," she heard, and she glanced at Beca to see the brunette was rubbing her eyes with one hand. She dropped it and glared down at the tile. "This should _not_ have happened twice," she snarled.

Aubrey felt her chest clench and she felt stupid again. Still, it was a lot easier to run with the jealous pain steadily overtaking her instead of attempting to voice her feelings. "I'll just leave the two of you alone. Sorry for interrupting." She began to turn back to her room, then thought that wouldn't be impactful enough, so she stepped over most of the glass and crossed to the cabinet where they stored their glasses.

"Come on, Bree, you _know_ we're not trying to make you feel bad or anything," Chloe practically cried. "It's time we all stop dodging around how we feel!"

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Aubrey drawled, filling a glass with water.

"Just stop being so goddamned _stubborn_ for once!"

"Chloe, calm down," Beca interjected before Aubrey could fit in a retort. In the back of her mind she acknowledged gratitude for the brunette, since she was certain anything she had to say she would just regret later. Beca held up her hands in a placating manner and looked back and forth from Chloe to Aubrey. "Let's just go sit down and talk. Okay?"

"I don't want to talk right now. I'm going back to bed," Aubrey said, but her tone came out more like a sad sigh, and she winced internally. She started walking out of the kitchen but Chloe grabbing her by the wrist stopped her forcefully; she glared weakly at the redhead and didn't even try yanking herself away. "Let me go, Chloe," she said lowly.

"Please just _talk_ to us," Chloe pleaded.

"And say _what_?" Aubrey countered, voice rising. "What do the two of you want to hear? That I somehow believe either of you could _also_ have feelings for me when it's more likely that you just have feelings for _each other_? That it _doesn't_ hurt to see the two of you... _together_ like that?" She started backing up, slipping out of Chloe's grip, which had eased up on account of how shocked she apparently was (judging by the look on her face, one that Beca mirrored). "Do you want to hear me say that I'm not worried about how this would work out? That I'm already terrified enough as it is that my parents would hate me for bringing just _one_ girl home? And what if we stay together a long time? How would I be able to explain the _supernatural qualities_ the two of you have? Not to mention I'm just a human and will never-"

"Watch out for the glass!" Beca interrupted shrilly, and in the blink of an eye Aubrey was in both her arms and Chloe's, like the two of them were dipping her in a dance she didn't think she should be a part of. She felt her eyes go wide and she glanced between them; they also seemed equally as surprised by the situation they found themselves in. Aubrey and Chloe breathed hard, and Beca was just still. They stood paralyzed like that in silence. Aubrey wanted to swallow, to revive her dry mouth and throat, but worried even that would be too loud.

Chloe and Beca exchanged a glance, and in that look seemed to agree on something. They pulled Aubrey upright and she felt her stomach flutter with butterflies.

The next thing she knew Chloe's lips were gently pressed against hers.

She flinched back about a centimeter, part of her totally unwilling to cease the contact, but the other part of her wanted to stay upset, indignant, and confused. And stubborn, as Chloe had so graciously pointed out. The redhead smiled a bit sadly and out of the corner of her eye Aubrey saw Beca's steel blue eyes shifting back and forth between them.

"Since Becs has already kissed you, we thought it was my turn," Chloe whispered, tone making it seem like she was trying to keep the situation light.

"Did you mean everything you just said?" Beca asked in a similarly quiet voice.

Aubrey's body felt like it was on fire and being electrocuted at the same time, all just where Chloe's and Beca's arms were around her. She had trouble swallowing and for a second feared she wouldn't be able to and would start suffocating; all the while her heart pounded in her chest so hard she imagined it was actually painful. "Yes," she breathed, finally managing to swallow, although the single word still came out as a croak. She avoided looking at either of them. "This is all just so... _different_. I'm already struggling with just the vampire and werewolf aspect to it and _because_ the two of you are... I just feel like I don't belong in this equation."

"Aubrey, that's ridiculous," Chloe said sternly. "Of _course_ you belong. Beca and I _both_ feel it, and it's so strong that neither of us can imagine _not_ being with you as well."

Scowling, Aubrey met her bright blue eyes. She opened her mouth to ask if either of them ever felt like they could technically function being with just one of them, but would much rather being with both, almost at all times. Instead she bit down hard on her lower lip and felt her body start to shake from the effort of keeping it all in.

Beca and Chloe exchanged another look, this one more worried. Chloe visibly sighed and Aubrey wished the motion hadn't pulled her attention to the redhead's chest. She flushed and just barely heard Chloe say, "All we want to do is talk, Bree. We've been disregarding this all summer, and Beca and I have agreed that we need to finally do something about it. We want to hear about all your doubts, all your feelings - everything."

"Neither of us want the friendship we already have to suffer because we've been so... cagey about this," Beca said, nodding in agreement. Her expression suddenly turned guilty and sheepish. "And we realized we haven't been thinking about _you_ , we've just been thinking about ourselves and assuming we know how you feel. Which is so not cool of us."

Aubrey sighed heavily, disengaging from their arms and ignoring the panicked and slightly hurt look that both of them suddenly shared. Without a word she stepped over the glass and went into the living room to sit in the middle of the couch, gesturing to the two of them to join her on either side. She jumped a little at how quickly they sat, obviously using their intense speed. She tried not to make it seem like it really affected her that much but they both seemed to realize their mistake right away.

"Sorry," Chloe said, hesitating before placing her hand on Aubrey's thigh. "We should try to do things like that less often, if it freaks you out."

"Only when you do it when I'm not expecting it," Aubrey muttered, anxiously rubbing her hands together in her lap. She took another breath and glanced swiftly to Beca on her left. Without a doubt she was sure the brunette could hear the flips and jolts her heart was currently going through in abundance. "Okay... where do we start?" she asked.

"Wherever you want to," Beca said softly.

Aubrey arched an eyebrow at her. "You don't have to tread so lightly."

"To be fair," Beca chuckled, smirking, "for a second back there you looked like you wanted to bolt, not just go back to your room."

"Well, that didn't really work out so well for Chloe, so I thought better of it." Aubrey turned to the redhead in time to see her pout, then she shook her head a little and shifted just a touch closer. Their combined proximity was _really_ threatening Aubrey's brain functionality.

"Seriously, Aubrey, we just-" Chloe began, but Aubrey interrupted her.

"I think both of you already know how much I worry or think about how my parents think of me," she said, grateful that her voice came out stronger than she honestly thought it would. "It's hard for me to let go of, and naturally I've been trying to figure out not only how it would work for the three of us to be together as a human, werewolf and vampire, but also how that would work in general. Have either of you been with two people at once?" Both of them shook their heads no and she smiled ruefully. "Exactly. But, with that being said... I-I can't really imagine... _not_ being with both of you."

She instantly caught sight of Chloe's eyes brightening in a mixture of relief and utter excitement; Beca, on the other hand, remained a bit more reserved. "We don't want to pressure you into anything right now," the brunette said, giving Chloe a brief, pointed look. "If you still need some time to figure things out for yourself, Chloe and I will be happy to wait. And we won't do anything with _each other_ until you want to share it with us."

Chloe nodded vigorously in agreement. "Right. We want you to be comfortable, Bree."

Aubrey sort of sighed again, fighting valiantly to figure out just what she wanted. She realized it wasn't just the closeness of Beca and Chloe that was making it difficult to think, but also the fact that she was ridiculously tired. She leaned back further into the couch and her eyes went in and out of focus for a second, prompting a laugh from her throat that sounded much too similar to a whimper.

"Are you okay?"

Her brain couldn't even figure out which one of them asked it, and it could have very well been both at the same time, but she figured that was alright for now. "Can we maybe just... go to bed?" she asked, voice hardly above a whisper (she knew Chloe and Beca would hear her anyway).

"Of course. Do you want us to tuck you in?" Chloe asked, both teasing and serious.

Aubrey nodded silently and took hold of each of their hands, pulling them up from the couch with her. She led the way to her room and didn't stop dragging them along even as they reached the bed; neither of them gave any hint of a protest as they got under the covers with her, although she was pretty sure she saw Chloe grimace at the feeling of being in bed in her jeans, which got her to smile for a second. Beca leaned over and turned the light off, then she and Chloe simultaneously curled up close on either side of Aubrey's body. She felt their arms drape over her stomach and imagined them holding onto each other as well.

Surprisingly, considering how much she'd been struggling with it the past month or so, sleep came to her quickly.

* * *

Aubrey woke up first, and this time she didn't freak out upon noticing that Beca wasn't breathing beside her. The brunette felt really cool against her, which nicely counteracted how incredibly _warm_ Chloe felt on Aubrey's other side. She realized it was probably going to be difficult to get out of bed, what with the two of them curled up so _closely_ to her, if she didn't want to wake them up. She looked in the direction of her window. The curtains blocked out most of the sun, but her internal clock told her it was decently late in the morning. A glance at her actual clock confirmed it was 10:42. She sighed lightly, emotions warring inside her.

On the one hand she was a _huge_ fan of waking up with both Chloe and Beca beside her in bed (even if it threw her off for a second upon waking to feel them in their street clothes). She could very easily get used to this.

On the other she still wasn't sure _exactly_ how she felt, and again, that just made her feel more stupid than anything. She _knew_ she cared about both of them deeply, and there was pretty much no way in hell she was going to pass up on the opportunity to deepen their relationship. Beca and Chloe seemed ready to move ahead. She just wasn't sure she was, and she couldn't figure out why.

Sure, there were the complications that she was sure were going to arise because they were three people in a relationship. And when she thought about it, she figured she was decently used to Beca being a vampire and Chloe being a werewolf. She was sure there were going to be more surprises waiting for her there, but at the moment she could hardly care. Maybe it was because the two of them were curled up to her in bed, and outside she could hear birdsong, and there was just this feeling in her chest that was much better than what she felt last night and told her the day was looking to be a great one. The thought brought a giant smile to her face that steadily grew into a grin. She nearly burst out laughing at the absurdity to it all, to her stupidity and resistance, and knew it was up to her to fix her mistakes.

Very carefully she sat up, dislodging Chloe's head from where it rested on her chest and possibly tickling Beca's nose with her hair, since her face was pressed awfully close to Aubrey's ear (for a second Aubrey figured it was actually a good thing that she didn't breathe because otherwise that would be a bit annoying). Chloe let out a soft groan but didn't stir other than that. Now Aubrey was faced with the challenge of getting the two of them to let go of each other so she could move their arms away from her stomach and get up the rest of the way.

They were both apparently really strong even in sleep, and it took Aubrey a few frustrating tries before she could finally get them to let go of each other just long enough for her to (somewhat awkwardly) stumble out of bed. With a short huff she turned and looked back at them; Chloe's brows furrowed at the absence of one body and she drifted close to Beca, who _really_ didn't move much in her sleep whatsoever. Aubrey smiled fondly and exited the room as quietly as humanly possible.

She went into the kitchen and started coffee, desperately needing the caffeine to kick-start her senses before Beca and Chloe got up. She knew it was going to be necessary. While the coffee maker did its thing she went to the fridge, intent on preparing a light breakfast for the three of them, but then she realized how that wouldn't exactly _work_. Not technically, anyway. She shut the fridge with a frown and turned towards the center of the kitchen with her hands on her hips, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she debated what to do. If only she knew where to get blood bags for Beca. She knew roughly how to feed Chloe (they'd been roommates long enough for her to know the redhead actually enjoyed a steak in the morning on occasion, she'd just thought it really odd at the time) so that wouldn't be a problem... but she wanted to do something special.

Then she spied Beca's phone on the counter. The brunette had probably left it there while she and Chloe had been talking last night. Aubrey didn't give herself a chance to hesitate or really even think about what she was doing, she just snatched the phone up and unlocked it. She went to Beca's contacts and pressed call next to the one she was looking for.

Jesse picked up on the fifth ring. " _What're you doing up so early, Becs_?" he grumbled, sounding like he'd just woken up himself.

"It's Aubrey. I, ah-" Aubrey rolled her eyes at herself and felt her face heat up "-I was just wondering if you could answer a question for me, regarding Beca?"

" _Aubrey_?" Jesse said, clearly surprised. " _Oh, yeah, sure. What's up_?"

"Do you know where she gets blood when she doesn't hunt for it?" Aubrey asked. Again, she didn't give herself the time to hesitate. In hindsight, last night had seemed relatively unscripted on Beca's and Chloe's parts, so she supposed she could do the same.

Jesse hummed. " _Well, she has a stash somewhere, but I don't know where that is. I_ do _know the name of her contact at the hospital, though_."

Aubrey scowled at how much that sounded like an addict/drug-dealer relationship, but pushed through it. "Alright, and who would that be?"

There was a pause on the other end, and it lasted long enough that Aubrey worried the call had been dropped. Then she heard Jesse laugh a bit awkwardly. " _Why do you want to know? If Beca really needs more blood, she'll go get it herself. Are you worried about her or something? Trust me, she knows better than to get too hungry. I've known her for awhile and she's never once let herself go too long without feeding_ ," he said.

"I just... wanted to do something nice for her," Aubrey huffed elusively.

" _Right... Well, it isn't enough to just know the name of the person she goes to. There's apparently some sort of code you need to know, too, and Beca's never told me what it is. I'm sorry, Aubrey, I'm not really sure I can help you_."

Biting back a sound of irritation, Aubrey glanced back at the fridge in disappointment. "Okay, but do you know what kind of actual food Beca still enjoys eating?" she asked.

" _Don't tell her I told you this, because she might bite my head off, but she has an_ insane _sweet tooth. Do you have vanilla ice cream_?"

Aubrey checked the freezer, partially surprised that they did have some. "Yes?"

" _What kind of fruit do you have, berries-wise_?"

She quirked an eyebrow at his phrasing, and suddenly _really_ wasn't all that surprised he and Beca were such good friends. "We have strawberries, but that's it," she told him.

" _Do you have any lemonade? Specifically like raspberry, strawberry or cherry flavored_?"

Again, she was pleasantly surprised when she looked in the fridge again. "We have raspberry." She paused, thinking over what he was saying. "Are you suggesting I make her a milkshake?" she asked, unable to keep back a short laugh.

" _Yeah! She'll love it, I promise_ ," Jesse assured.

"Okay," Aubrey said, pulling out all the ingredients, along with what she knew Chloe would probably like. "Thank you for your help, Jesse. I'm sorry if I woke you up earlier than you wanted to be awake."

" _It's no problem at all, Aubrey. I'm happy to be of assistance_." There was another pause on the other end and she could practically feel his smugness coming through the phone. " _So, you're making her and Chloe breakfast? The three of you have a long night or something_?" he added, and Aubrey could picture the way he would say something similar to Beca, which then brought about the image of Beca blushing as much as she was physically able.

Aubrey bit down hard on her lower lip to refocus herself, and she told Jesse, "Thanks again for your help. Have a good rest of your day. Bye."

Jesse laughed wholeheartedly. " _Bye, Aubrey. Good luck_."

She hung up and got to work, making the typical four eggs Chloe tended to start her day with and prepping some hash browns. As those cooked in the pan she got out the blender they used for quick, one-serving smoothies and used it instead to whip up Beca's milkshake, cringing a little at the loud whirring sound it made. With that done she set it aside in the freezer and finished the rest of the food.

Exactly as she suspected, Chloe was drawn from the bedroom by the smell of food; she turned at the sound of the redhead inhaling deeply and saw her walk into the kitchen with her eyes closed and nose in the air. She opened her eyes and they immediately fell on Aubrey. A huge grin stretched across her face, quite possibly one of the biggest grins Aubrey had ever seen her wear, and she dashed across the kitchen to hug Aubrey fiercely. Laughing and hugging her back, Aubrey gave a light sigh of relief that she'd remembered to clean up the glass on the floor from last night. Chloe held onto her tightly, long enough for Beca to see them embracing once she walked into the kitchen, looking adorable with her bed-head and a bleary look to her steel blue eyes. She smirked at the two of them - only Aubrey saw it, and she smiled back more shyly - and crossed over to wrap her slims arms around both of them, nuzzling into the back of Chloe's neck. The redhead giggled.

"Okay, enough," Aubrey barked, squirming to get out of their arms. Both of them together were really just about too strong for her to do much of anything. Thankfully, they let her go. She huffed, feeling overwhelmed, and brushed some hair out of her eyes. "Thank you. Now your food won't get burned," she teased, poking Chloe in the stomach.

"You made my favorite!" the redhead squealed.

Aubrey smiled and turned off the burner, turning away from her and Beca to put the hash browns on a plate separate from the smaller one she'd put the eggs on. While Chloe took her food and bounced over to the table Aubrey went to the freezer and retrieved the milkshake along with a straw and spoon. Beca was already sitting at the table, smirking fondly at Chloe as she wolfed down her food (Aubrey internally cringed at the pun), but her eyes snapped open wide once Aubrey placed the milkshake in front of her. Aubrey left her gaping at it and went to grab her cup of coffee, as well as a small yogurt from the fridge. She joined them at the table.

"Cat got your tongue, Beca?" she asked the brunette, voice smooth.

Beca's eyes snapped up to hers, glinting for a second. She still looked mostly surprised. "H-how did you know I - Jesse told you, didn't he?" she said, tone changing from disbelief to more of a drawl halfway through. She rolled her eyes and took a bite of it. Any annoyance she might have felt vanished and she moaned in delight.

The response in Aubrey's body was immediate, and apparently the same went for Chloe; while Aubrey stiffened so suddenly that she nearly crushed the yogurt cup in her hand, Chloe pretty much choked on her mouthful of food. They both blushed intensely as they recovered, and Aubrey even exchanged a glance with the redhead to be double-sure that she felt the same way. The color of Chloe's face could easily rival the color of her hair.

Beca didn't even really seem to notice the way she affected them, though. "Fuck, Bree, this is _so good_! What the hell, I love strawberries!" she gushed. In a blink her eyes turned silver, which Aubrey took to mean she was incredibly excited.

Aubrey was having a slight struggle breathing (at least she hadn't choked - Chloe was still subtly coughing to get out whatever piece of food got lodged in her throat) but she managed a slightly relieved smile. "I'm glad you like it. But I feel inclined to tell you that Jesse had hoped I wouldn't let you know it was him who told me, so maybe don't give him a hard time for it?" she said, reaching over to clap Chloe on the back. The redhead nodded in thanks.

"Oh, I don't mind," Beca said. "How did you even get a hold of him?"

"I... used your phone," Aubrey admitted. "You left it on the counter. I hope you don't mind. I didn't look at anything else, I just thought he could help me out."

Beca nodded knowingly, waiting to speak until after she'd swallowed another spoonful. "You wanted to get me blood first, didn't you?" she said.

Aubrey shrugged. "I didn't want you to feel left out."

"Thank you," Beca said softly, her eyes practically glowing with gratitude.

"Yes, thank you so much, Bree," Chloe tacked on. "This is great, like always!" She was already done with all the food, so perhaps the slight choking hadn't been as incapacitating as Aubrey had thought. She placed her fork down and said, "I will admit, though, I was a little disappointed to wake up and realize you weren't still in bed with us."

"You didn't seem to mind for very long," Beca countered, gaze focused on her milkshake. "Certainly not when you smelled the food." Chloe whined, and Beca and Aubrey shared a light laugh. She shook it off quickly and just beamed back and forth at them. It would obviously take quite a bit to ruin her ecstatic mood, and it was incredibly contagious. The longer Aubrey looked from her mega-watt smile to Beca's smirk, the more all her anxieties seemed to slip away, and she was content with just letting things be.

They'd been doing way too much thinking when it came to this, anyway.

She cleared her throat, gaining Chloe's and Beca's attention, and was suddenly overwhelmed with nerves. Glancing down at the table, she forgot her etiquette and shrugged. "I was wondering... would the two of you like to go out on a date with me? We could get dinner and maybe even catch a movie," she said, tone hitching up in pitch for a second. There was a beat of silence and her eyes flicked up to see Chloe and Beca staring at her in surprise, but it hardly lasted. She relaxed as they grinned and smirked again.

"I'd love to," Chloe purred.

"Me too," Beca said. She reached over and Aubrey nearly jumped at an unexpected hand resting on her knee, having forgotten she was wearing shorts. Beca's hand was cool on her skin, which both calmed and exhilarated her.

Aubrey smiled, and it felt so natural that it scared her for a moment. "Great," she breathed. Her heart raced. She felt so much love for the two of them, she knew she was going to struggle keeping herself in check for their date.

* * *

 _A/N: Y'all, we gettin' somewhere! Thank you all for sticking with me for so long. Stay tuned for more fluff, and eventually ~other things~ *waggles eyebrows*_

 _Please keep reviewing, favoriting, and following! Much love~_


	25. Chapter XXV

**\+ XXV +**

A ding from Chloe's phone signaled that she had a text, and she momentarily paused her task of applying some light make-up to pick the phone up and read it. She felt a warm feeling spread through her chest as she read the text from Jazzlee: _**OMG! You're finally doing something! I was starting to worry you wouldn't lol. Let me know how it goes!**_ She'd ended it with a plethora of heart and kissy emoticons. Chloe laughed lightly to herself, returned some of the emojis, and set her phone back down on the counter to finish her make-up.

She was getting ready for her date with Aubrey and Beca.

After breakfast Beca had gone back to her dorm until she would meet them halfway between her dorm building and their apartment, and Aubrey and Chloe had enjoyed a simple, calm day. Aubrey had gotten mostly ready _way_ ahead of time - something told Chloe she was just as nervous as she appeared, which consisted of a slight tremor to her hands, and her breathing was a touch labored - but Chloe felt a bit more chill about the whole thing. Not that she wasn't excited out of her _mind_. She could be cool when she needed to be.

Besides, she figured Aubrey would be grateful if one third of them, or two thirds, could keep themselves together in the case that she couldn't.

Chloe was almost ready herself, she just needed to pick out an outfit. She exited the bathroom and swerved into her bedroom. From Aubrey's she could hear the sound of the blonde pacing a little, and she smiled affectionately. She'd already warned Beca about Aubrey's tendency to get nervous around people she actually liked a _lot_ (Chloe had actually seen her act that way around at least one other person, way back in their first year at Barden, though at the time she hadn't thought much about it) and they'd agreed to both tone things down a touch. They were both fine with going slow. And Chloe kind of knew how Aubrey felt, at least when it came to Beca. The brunette was intense enough already, and when she wanted to be smooth and seductive, damn was she good at it. That much had been firmly established.

Mostly, Chloe just worried that Aubrey was playing it up a lot in her head and also trying to suppress or hide how much she was possibly freaking out. She didn't want the blonde to have to stress about the possibility of puking at some point during the date, but she also guessed that was the teensiest bit inevitable - not that she'd puke, but that she'd stress over the fact that she was _might_. Chloe reminded herself to say something about it when they went to meet Beca. She wanted all their cards to be out on the table; she was readily going to admit that she was anxious herself, although a voice in the back of her head was telling her it was all going to go fine. That was just how it worked when a werewolf found a potential mate connection. They knew from the start that things had a very high chance of working out, unlike any other relationship they'd had, and Chloe had never felt this way about _anyone_. Only once before had she ever felt another potential mate in someone, but that had been dashed quickly.

She was still determined to help things go as smoothly as possible, regardless of how close she already felt to Aubrey and Beca.

Once she'd picked out her outfit she went out to the door to make sure her purse was there, then she went to sit on the couch and wait. They were supposed to meet Beca in twenty minutes, and she wasn't surprised when Aubrey practically burst out of her room in the next five. Chloe got up and joined her in the hall; the blonde was wearing a simple pair of black jeans and a yellow long sleeved shirt, and she was putting on a pair of black Converse. Chloe grinned when she caught sight of the Bella scarf tied around her neck, glad that Aubrey had gone with a look that was clearly comfortable for her. Chloe also found it funny that they were both wearing the same outfits they'd worn for auditions at the beginning of last year.

The same outfits they'd worn when they both first really met Beca.

"You look beautiful," she said, in part to announce her presence. Aubrey looked up quickly and her cheeks turned pink with a blush. Her pale green eyes drifted down to take in the ever-so-slightly see-through red button-up Chloe was wearing, with her own pair of dark blue jeans and brown knee high boots. She smiled.

"How crazy would it be if Beca also wore the same outfit from when we all technically met each other?" she scoffed lightly, grabbing her keys from the key ring they had hung up by the door. Chloe beamed right back, and once the two of them had their purses they exited their dorm; Aubrey made sure it was locked and they headed out. After walking a few moments in silence Chloe saw the blonde smile shyly out of the corner of her eye. "I always liked that shirt," she said, punctuating the words with a nervous laugh. "It's just really cute one you. And I like the little horses." She showed her perfectly white teeth in a grin, watching Chloe sideways.

Chloe offered her a little wink and nudged her playfully with her hip. "Thanks, Bree. You know, you're seriously too adorable for your own good. I love it," she said.

Aubrey rolled her eyes, grin morphing into a smirk.

Beca was already waiting for them, hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket - and of course she _was_ wearing the same long-sleeved gray shirt, black jeans, and faded black boots she'd worn the day of her audition. The jacket was the same she'd worn for the following party in the amphitheater, and her hair was also done up in the same way.

She turned upon hearing their approach and laughed. "Oh my god, really?"

"Wow, Beca, you just _had_ to wear the one shirt of yours that totally shows off your chest, didn't you?" Chloe quipped, although she was also serious; the second she'd forced her attention away from the dangerously low cut of the brunette's shirt, she'd noticed Aubrey was struggling to do the same.

Beca laughed again, the sound light and so much different than her dark chuckle. "You're one to talk, Chlo, wearing that super see-through shirt. I'm surprised I can't see your bra," she teased right back, shooting Aubrey an impish look.

"That's because my bra is _red_ ," Chloe said with a playful roll of her eyes, aware of both Aubrey and Beca glancing at her chest in a way they probably thought was subtle. She grinned and, unable to hold herself back any longer, gave them both a quick peck on the cheek. Then she took both of their hands and started dragging them in the direction of Aubrey's car. "Come on! Let's go get dinner and see that movie! I'm so excited and nervous I think I'm going to explode if we dilly-dally any longer."

* * *

The restaurant was one they'd all agreed on over text, just a simple but classy place that didn't require a reservation and served things they all liked. For the most part, anyway. Beca ordered one of the least expensive dishes and spent more time staring at it than actually eating it, allowing Chloe to take more than one bite from it when her dish didn't do enough to satisfy her appetite. Aubrey just seemed to be surveying the two of them silently, eating slowly.

"Chloe, you're not going to have any room for popcorn," Aubrey said, frowning when Chloe just took the entire plate away from Beca, who was now sporting a slightly fanged smirk. Aubrey shook her head a little and corrected herself. "Who am I kidding, you could eat everything in the entire restaurant and still have room for popcorn."

"Sorry," Chloe laughed, after swallowing. "But hey, one of us has to make up for what Beca doesn't eat."

"That isn't exactly fair," Beca retorted. The smirk remained in place.

Chloe glanced to Aubrey. They'd forgone a booth so they could sit a bit more in a circle. "Don't worry about not eating much if you're really anxious, Bree," she said. "We can always just take our stuff to go. Hell, I'd even sneak it into the movie theater for you."

"That's okay," Aubrey giggled; the light blush to her cheeks that had been pretty consistent the entire time was practically making Chloe swoon. Aubrey cleared her throat and daintily wiped her mouth with her napkin. "And neither of _you_ should worry about me... losing control," she added, sounding a little awkward and embarrassed.

"That actually kinda reminds me of something," Beca said. Her expression changed to be a bit more serious, instantly shifting the mood at their table. "I was thinking the other day about that whole thing, because I was at the empty pool, and I realized that none of the stuff any of the Bellas brought up was really talked about. I feel bad, 'cause we are like a family - at least, _I_ agree with Amy every time she says that. Anyway, I just thought it might be nice if we kinda did something about that." She flushed; it really only made her look more alive than like she was blushing. "I mean, it's just a suggestion. You two are the captains."

Aubrey nodded a few times. "No, I think you're right. We all need to be close. I feel like I failed a bit in making the Bellas feel like a sisterhood last year, and I'd like to remedy that."

"It'll be even easier if my plan actually works out," Chloe said.

"What plan?" Beca asked, and Aubrey rolled her eyes a tiny bit, frowning in uncertainty.

Chloe shrugged. "I thought it'd be cool if all the Bellas went in on buying a house near campus. I mean, right? That'd be awesome. I've actually already looked and found a place that I think would be totally perfect. I was going to bring it up with the others, but Aubrey isn't too sure about it. What do you think, Becs?"

The brunette tilted her head to the side, tongue darting out to lick her lips. "I don't think it would be a _bad_ idea," she said coyly. "If the others are all into it, why not?"

Aubrey sighed. "Maybe part of me just can't imagine that it would work out well living with everyone... but I also wouldn't be opposed to giving it a shot." Chloe gasped in pretend surprise, although she _was_ a little shocked by how quickly the blonde had agreed. Aubrey gave her a dirty look that was hindered a bit by the tiny smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"This is so cool!" Chloe squealed. "I'll tell everyone else first thing tomorrow morning!"

While she returned to eating a bit, Aubrey said to Beca, "There certainly has to be a way we can get everyone to open up some more and elaborate on all those things we brought up."

Beca frowned, and Chloe instantly recognized her overlapping fear and anxiety. "Do you expect Chloe and I to... reveal ourselves?" she asked carefully.

"What? Oh my god, no!" Aubrey said, voice a little high-pitched, eyes going wide. "No, Beca, I would never make you or Chloe do something like that. Whether or not you do is totally up to you two. I would never expect that."

Beca visibly relaxed. "Okay. Sorry, I just... had to ask."

A tension that Chloe hadn't even noticed slipped from her shoulders, and she once again returned to eating. She shared Beca's fear very intimately. There was just no telling how the rest of the Bellas would react to learning such information, though part of her was actually _aching_ to get this secret out in the open. It'd felt good when Aubrey found out (although she still wished the blonde had learned about her true self in _totally_ different circumstances) and also when she and Beca had admitted it to each other, despite sort of already knowing. Now that Beca had brought it up, Chloe kind of wanted the relief that came with the weight of such a secret being lifted from her chest. Beca was also right; the Bellas were a family, a sisterhood. It felt wrong to keep this from her closest friends. She scowled down at her plate, mulling it over a few moments longer. She didn't want to think about it too much right now, so she filed it away for later and engaged back into the conversation Aubrey and Beca were having. They were talking about music. It was familiar and soothing; Chloe forgot very quickly about all the strain they'd had at the beginning of the summer.

Which reminded her... Once there was a lull in conversation, she asked Beca, "What's going on with Ned and Vivianne?"

Beca grimaced. "Ugh. Yeah, I kinda forgot about that. Nadine's been keeping me updated on things, but she can't really say much since they're conducting a private trial. Only the Council members, of course the King, Queen, and anyone on trial are privy to any specifics."

"So they're on trial?" Aubrey asked, frowning.

"Yeah. It's... messy. I mean, the worst thing they _actually_ did was kidnap Chloe and put you and I in danger; everything else was just plotting. I think in regular politics it's charged under 'conspiracy'." Beca grinned, again showing off her fangs a little bit. They seemed to be in a halfway state; not too obvious, but definitely sharper than usual. "You're the lawyer, Bree. Think of it like a typical trial between, like, I dunno, the Supreme Court and two really rich people?" She shook her head. "Like I said, it's messy."

Aubrey nodded. She seemed to appreciate the lawyer comment. "What will happen to them if they're found to be guilty?" she asked.

Chloe snorted and reached for her glass of ice water. "I think the evidence against them is pretty overwhelming. I doubt they have a chance," she snarled bitterly. Aubrey quirked an eyebrow, but Beca's slightly sour expression seemed to suggest she agreed with the redhead's less-than-friendly sentiments towards the vampire prince and princess.

"That's true," Beca huffed. "This is really just to figure out what to do with them."

"Is that why none of us were called in to testify?" Chloe half-joked.

Beca smiled. "Pretty much. I mean, Darragh and Hedevi just took our statements from when we met with them. Same with the Kommissar and Emily. And Nadine did tell me that Max, that one Scottish butler, admitted to everything as well. So did this other guy named Gus."

"Oh, he was awful," Chloe sighed, remembering the multiple times he'd been so rough with her, knocking her around or sedating her. She glared down at her remaining food. He was lucky she hadn't run into him when they'd forced her to turn. "Did I tell you guys he and this Jonathon guy water-boarded me?" she added offhandedly.

Aubrey dropped her fork in surprise - it fell onto her plate loudly - and Beca literally did a spit-take with her water, thankfully to the side so she didn't spew it all over the blonde or Chloe. "Jesus Chirst, Chlo, you can't just say things like that so nonchalantly!" she hissed through her teeth, glancing around at the few people nearby who were giving their table odd looks in quick succession. Beca's chest rose and fell like she was taking a breath. "Are you serious, though? They _tortured_ you?" she said lowly, so as to not be overheard.

Chloe glanced to Aubrey; the blonde was staring at her, wide-eyed and pale. "Um... yeah? But just the once. After that they were mostly, like, gentle with me. Up until they hastened forcing me to turn, anyway." She cocked her head to the side, trying to remember whether or not she'd mentioned the water-boarding before. She guessed she hadn't, since she hadn't had any sort of chance to tell her part of the story without Aubrey and Beca being right there beside her, and she hadn't wanted to freak them out. Well, she'd done that anyway. "I probably should have mentioned that, huh? Or not. The kidnapping was bad enough."

Beca shook her head. "Chloe, the fact that they - did that to you is actually really important. Blame Nadine for my knowing this, but there are certain things the Council or the King and Queen have to alert, uh... your leaders to," she said, once again gazing all around them in a few darts of her eyes. "It's a part of the treaty we all have."

Chloe hadn't thought about that.

"Who's the leader of your pack?" Beca asked.

"My aunt."

She winced a little at the shock that snapped across Beca's face, and her shoulders sank at the sight of it reflected - though not quite as strong - on Aubrey's. "Seriously? You're in one of the prominent families?" Beca said, tone filled with awe.

"I don't like to make a big deal out of it," Chloe sighed, "but yeah. In our pack the third born is usually chosen, but not in the case of my aunt. My mama is the oldest, and my grandma only had two children. They were sort of the leader together for awhile, but when my mama met my dad and realized he was going to be her mate she asked my aunt to take over all by herself, also because she thought she was a better fit to lead. So that's how it's been."

"Aren't you the third born?" Aubrey asked gently.

 _Dammit_ , Chloe thought, pursing her lips awkwardly. "Yeah," she muttered.

"Um, well," Beca stammered, "all I mean to say is that Nadine or someone else on the Council will have to alert your aunt to what happened, and go from there."

"This all sounds like a really in-depth process," Aubrey commented.

"For sure."

Chloe let out a silent sigh in relief that the two of them were moving on from the fact that she came from such a prominent family in her community, and that she was potentially going to be pack leader at some point. "What are some of the possibilities for what might happen to them?" she asked.

Beca hummed, brows furrowing in thought. "One thing's for sure, and that's that they won't become king and queen. Ever."

"Does that mean Darragh and Hedevi will have to sire two more people?" Aubrey asked.

"Not necessarily. Sometimes two mates get _elected_ \- we've developed this kinda weird system of a democratic monarchy, and I say weird since that's definitely not what it's like in the U.S., and that's the second thing I'm most used to. It's just totally up to them. I think they've still got awhile before they want to step down anyway. Really, it's a little embarrassing for them, that Ned and Vivianne fucked up like this." Beca grimaced again, pausing to take a sip of water. "So yeah, they could either sire two more people and they'll take their places, or there will be an election. To be honest I'm assuming it'll be an election this time around," she said.

"Is there any possibility Ned and Vivianne will be killed for what they did?" Chloe asked, being sure to keep her voice low.

"At this point, I have no idea. They might just be banished. That will probably be easier on Darragh and Hedevi, although only a little."

There was a beat of silence. Aubrey angled her body a bit more in Chloe's direction. "How does politics work for you? Beca's mentioned the royalty and Council that she... has, and they apparently run everything - is it like that at all?" she asked.

Chloe squirmed a little. "No, we don't have royalty. There are clusters of packs that are all run by one person, and they typically have their family as advisors. If anything needs to be decided all the leaders will come together and work things out, then designate one person to go on to bringing the decision up with pack leaders throughout the rest of the world," she explained. "I'll admit, sometimes our wolfish nature will come out, and things can be settled through fighting. But this system has been around for a _really_ long time. Before that there was a lot more... bloodshed. Civil war type things."

Aubrey nodded slowly a few times, looking like she was digesting all the information. An odd look entered her eyes and she wearily glanced to Chloe, then to the table. Her own meal was pretty much forgotten by this point.

"I can tell you want to ask me something I might not like," Chloe half-sighed, though she made sure to smile in hopes that it would help relax the blonde.

"Are werewolves more accustomed to eating humans?" Aubrey blurted.

Chloe flinched a little; at the same time she saw Beca glance around yet again, probably to accommodate for the way Aubrey's voice had risen just a touch. Aubrey actually looked quite appalled that she'd asked such a question. "It's okay," Chloe reassured her, reaching over to rest her hand over hers on the table. "Actually, I'm a tiny bit surprised you haven't asked that sooner. Technically, yes, we _were_ supposed to hunt down and eat humans, but that was really early in our evolution. It was back when the wolf part of our DNA was a lot more prominent, more like a ninety-ten thing, as opposed to the fifty-fifty it is now. At least I think. As we became a bit more balanced we started conditioning ourselves to hunt other mammals - like deer - and taught every young werewolf to do the same."

"Have you ever eaten a human?" Beca asked under her breath. Hardly even a second passed and she grimaced, this time in a way that seemed to say she regretted the question.

"I have," Chloe sighed. "Puberty for werewolves is like a hundred times worse. It's a time in our lives that we have _very_ little control over ourselves during the full moon. Usually we tend to retain senses of right and wrong, despite the human part of ourselves not being present, so we don't do things we've been taught not to. I mean, it's still unfortunately likely that I might _attack_ someone, but not _eat_ them. Except for once, when I was thirteen." She averted her gaze to the table, appetite completely gone. She made a mental note to wave their waiter over when the timing was right (in other words, when they weren't talking about werewolf or vampire things) so they could box up the last of their food. "I felt really bad about it. I was inconsolable for weeks. By the time the next full moon came around I was _terrified_ to turn again. The only thing that calmed me down was both my mama and my aunt telling me they'd stick with me that time."

"Do you usually turn by yourself?" Aubrey asked. She seemed ever so slightly eager to move on from the subject of cannibalism (technically), most likely because they were in such a public place. "I assumed you only did because I _also_ assumed there weren't really any other werewolves at Barden," she added as a bit of an afterthought.

"It's kind of a thing, yeah," Chloe said, shrugging. "To avoid getting territorial, or in fights, although sometimes it isn't so bad. Just think about how regular wolves are. And you're right, there aren't any other werewolves at Barden _specifically_."

Aubrey narrowed her eyes at that for about a second, but didn't press on it. "That makes sense," she said simply.

"Hey, the movie's in a half hour," Beca said. She had her phone out and looked preoccupied for a moment, but then she glanced up from it and smiled. "Should we get outta here? Continue this conversation in the car?"

They didn't exactly, since all three of them seemed to share a sense of not wanting to talk much more about things in that realm. Chloe didn't mind either way. They had plenty of time to discuss the "heavier" things, but tonight was their first date, and as that seemed to be the guiding philosophy, they found lighter topics to discuss as they drove to the theater.

Once they got seated (Chloe in the middle, so she could hold the extra-large popcorn) the previews started and any vague hints of there being tension about them vanished. Chloe settled back comfortably, propping her feet up on the metal bar in front of them, and glanced to both Aubrey and Beca to shoot them a smile. It sort of astounded her, in this moment, just how comfortable she felt with the two of them.

Beca took a small handful of popcorn and experimentally picked at it. She smirked cheekily at a terrible joke one of the actors in the current preview said.

Aubrey shared the popcorn equally with Chloe, the upper half of her body kind of leaning towards the redhead.

Chloe could practically smell the happiness wafting from them, and she grinned triumphantly. She considered the songs she'd started to write and vowed to herself that she'd finish them, driven by the urge to tell Aubrey and Beca how she felt in such an intimate way.

* * *

 _A/N: I hope y'all are happy with this one. I really liked writing it. Don't worry, more is coming, and our lovely ladies are going to get closer and closer! ;)  
_


	26. Chapter XXVI

**\+ XXVI +**

The house Chloe had found was honestly perfect.

It was right next to this (actually kinda random) lake, enclosed by a bunch of other houses; Beca thought it was a bit funny that, pretty much directly across from their potential house, was the one the Treblemakers had bought at the beginning of the summer.

But, seriously, Beca was just pleasantly surprised by what Chloe showed her and Aubrey the day after their date. The place was spacious, with enough rooms for the nine of them even if some might have to double up or they got more members. It had a big kitchen and dining space and a cozy living room, where the front windows let in a lot of natural light. The front of the house had a green lawn and the back was pretty similar, just with a small deck. It was two floors but the attic had been converted into another bedroom. Beca had initially called dibs before both Chloe and Aubrey had whined about a whole number of reasons why it wasn't "perfect" and "wouldn't it be better if we took the master bedroom" because "who are we kidding if we all start out with relatively separate rooms?" - Chloe's words. She hadn't minced the subject that the three of them were technically, on all counts, _together_.

And, to quote her again, it "isn't like we've never shared a bed before, _Aubrey_."

So two weeks before school was to start up again the rest of the Bellas came back a bit early to take a look around for themselves and help make a final decision. It had been a unanimous _yes_. Beca was currently transporting her stuff (which wasn't much) from Aubrey's car and into the house, following the blonde and Chloe inside.

"This place is seriously the coolest!" Jessica called from the kitchen.

"Man, I can totally see like a nice flat screen _right_ here," Cynthia-Rose said; she was in the living room with Lily. The house was mostly furnished already but it was just the necessities.

"We can worry about that later," Chloe said, not even slowing down on her way to the stairs and to the master bedroom. Beca passed her on the way and sent her a sheepish smile.

In a way they _had_ all gotten what they'd wanted... except not.

Pretty much right before any of the rest of the Bellas had arrived, Aubrey had sat her and Chloe down to discuss how public they were going to be about their relationship. Beca didn't really want to think back on all the details, because she thought it was stupid that they weren't just all going to share a room. Aubrey and Chloe would share the master bedroom since that wouldn't be "suspicious", and Beca was going to stay in the attic room with Fat Amy. Which was cool, but was also going to require a whole lot of unnecessary sneaking around. Seriously, _who was Aubrey kidding_? Beca shook her head to herself as she stepped up the ladder to the attic; the ladder had been fixed so it was more like a permanent sort of staircase. Amy was already up there. Thankfully there were already two twin beds on either side of the surprisingly spacious room (they could both stand up to their full height, not that that was a super big problem for Beca, as short as she was) so they hadn't had to try to figure out how the hell to get beds up there themselves.

"Short stack!" Amy greeted, raising her hand in the air for a high five. Beca balanced the box she was carrying on her knee so as to not leave her hanging. "This is pretty cool, isn't it? Gotta hand it to ginger for thinking this one up," Amy added, referring of course to Chloe.

"Yeah, it's really awesome," Beca huffed, reminding herself to make it seem like she was maybe _slightly_ winded from carting around all her shit. She set the box down on a desk; it had all her mixing equipment, otherwise she'd already brought up the two suitcases with the rest of her stuff, and her laptop case, which also sort of doubled as a backpack for classes. She plunked down on her bed across from Amy.

The Australian girl was giving her an odd look, lips pursed. "You don't really look all that excited about it, if I'm being honest with you..." she said carefully.

Beca shrugged. "I am, I'm just tired. I've been helping Aubrey and Chloe with a lot of this shit, and, like, most of it has just gone over my head, all that contract stuff and... I dunno, but thankfully Aubrey's basically a lawyer already," she rambled.

Amy nodded in a very slow, exaggerated manner. "You've been spending a lot of time with those two, huh?"

There it was - why they shouldn't have bothered with splitting themselves up, if only vaguely. Beca was not at all surprised that Amy quite possibly knew what was going on, and if that was the case she didn't doubt the rest of the Bellas knew as well. Still, she played it cool, not wanting Aubrey to be able to say she didn't _try_ to keep their relationship on the down-low. "I mean, yeah. We're good friends," she said simply. Amy did not look impressed. "Uh, why don't we go downstairs and see if there's anything else we can help with?" Beca didn't wait for a response before getting up and going to the ladder.

"Right behind you, short stack," Amy said, but she sounded like she was tsking her and laughing at the same time. Beca ignored it. _For Aubrey_ , she reminded herself, rolling her eyes lavishly while no one else was around to see her.

Downstairs, they found everyone in the kitchen, all with their own beverage of choice. It looked like all the moving was done, and just in time for it to start getting late. Chloe was on the phone ordering some pizza, and once she was done everyone drifted into the living room, conversing joyously. Before Beca could join them she heard Chloe come right up behind her, and the redhead's warm breath hit the shell of her ear and made her shiver.

"Can I see you over here for a second, Becs?"

Beca could only nod mutely and allow Chloe to drag her over to a full-sized pantry. She was lightly pushed aside and stumbled directly into Aubrey standing in the very back; the pantry was just barely big enough for the three of them to stand in, and it was only comfortable with the door open - so of course Chloe shut it behind her. She turned on the light and Beca squinted up at it for a second, then smirked at Chloe. She knew what the redhead was doing.

"What are we doing in the pantry?" Aubrey half-snapped, half-hissed in annoyance.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Is it too much to ask for just a _second_ alone with you two?" she growled lowly. "God, Bree, I may never understand why you made Beca stay up in the attic."

"We literally haven't even been here for _one night_!" Aubrey cried.

"If you don't want anyone out there to possibly hear you, ya might wanna keep your voice down," Beca teased. She was quite enjoying her place between the two of them, with her back pressed right up to Aubrey's front, and Chloe almost just as close but also excruciatingly out of reach. She remembered how, after that first date, they'd agreed to take things slowly. That had worked for about an hour. Chloe was just too affectionate to _not_ pepper Beca's or Aubrey's faces with kisses whenever she wanted to (which was often), or to _not_ want to hold their hands, also whenever she wanted to (which was, again, often). Beca admitted she also struggled with it as well - they'd waited so long and she just really hadn't wanted to wait. She and Chloe had both _tried_ , for Aubrey, and the blonde _had_ caved after holding them both off for about three hours and twenty-two minutes. But she'd remained wary about acting like a couple (or were they a triplet, technically?) in public.

Chloe smirked at Beca and shifted closer the rest of the way so their fronts were pressed together in a really quite intoxicating way; she reached past the brunette to wrap her arms around Aubrey's neck. Sometimes Beca wasn't really sure if she was happy to be shorter than the both of them or not. "Beca's right, Aubrey," Chloe purred. As expected, Aubrey blushed lightly, her lower lip jutting out in a stubborn pout. "We _really_ don't want any of the rest of the Bellas to hear us, because they _absolutely_ don't know already that something's up between us."

Aubrey quirked an eyebrow and her eyes became hooded. "Chloe," she snapped.

"Ugh," the redhead groaned, stepping away and allowing Beca a little room to do the same. Beca begrudgingly shuffled forward a touch, frowning at Aubrey over her shoulder. "I hate your business voice..." Chloe pouted. She even went so far as to stomp her foot. "It always means you're about to tell us not to do something and ruin the fun..."

"Let's just act like adults, okay?" Aubrey sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, and hide our relationship from our friends, who are also adults," Beca snorted.

Aubrey gave her the same look. "Beca."

"Dammit, fine. Whatever. We're trying, but Chlo's got a point."

To her relief, and probably Chloe's as well, Aubrey visibly softened. She bit her lower lip and hesitated only about half a second before giving them both very chaste kisses. "We're going to have plenty of time to be with each other," she murmured. "It's not like we're _never_ going to see each other. Beca just won't be in the same room as us."

Beca placed a hand over her heart, feigning hurt. "Aubrey Posen, do you seriously believe a hooligan like me _won't_ be sneaking out of my room every night to join you and Chloe in yours? Honestly, what do you _take_ me for?"

"Definitely a hooligan," Aubrey agreed without missing a beat. "Now come on, the others are probably wondering where we are. I don't need rumors to start going around before classes even _start_." She crossed her arms and tilted her chin up; Chloe grumbled something to herself Beca didn't even catch and opened the door, exiting first. Aubrey headed straight for the living room, but Beca hung back with Chloe for a second.

"We gotta get her to rethink these living arragements," Beca muttered, smirking up at Chloe. The redhead grinned back slyly and they shared a quick kiss of their own.

* * *

Beca didn't bother to sneak around that night, other than to get out and hunt a little, since she didn't want to upset Aubrey when the blonde was still a little high-strung from all the moving. Once she started to come down from that Beca hoped she wouldn't continue to be _as_ weird, though she did expect that Aubrey would remain steadfast in her conviction that they didn't need to be "so public". Unfortunately, Aubrey's stubbornness was still pretty adorable and Beca loved that about her, even if it also drove her crazy at times.

She liked that the house was pretty spacious and therefore full of shadows, and when it was super early in the morning (aka midnight) the house was pretty much pitch black dark. That made it pretty easy for Beca to slip in through the door and close it silently, then dart swiftly up the stairs and the ladder into the attic. Amy was fast asleep, snoring every once in awhile, and mumbling incoherently. She and Beca had both agreed on buying a lava lamp for their room as a housewarming gift to themselves, and it glowed a soft but also sort of eerie red atop a bookshelf in the center of the back wall. Beca took off her boots, trying valiantly to keep her balance so as to not stomp around and potentially wake Amy, although she was pretty damn sure the Australian girl wouldn't even wake up if a truck drove right past her ear.

As Beca changed into clothes for bed, she felt a jabbing discomfort in her chest and it was so sudden and sharp that she doubled over in pain for a second, grunting. She placed a hand over her heart, digging her fingertips into the flesh. _What_ was _that?_ she wondered, glancing around. She'd never felt anything like it before, and something told her this wasn't going to be the only time she felt it, either. She moved to get into bed.

The stabbing discomfort shot through her again and she stumbled, crashing face first on her bed with a pained groan this time. Her vision went a little blurry and her head swam. It took quite a bit of effort to stand up, and again she looked around the room as if the source for whatever this was could be found in a dark corner. Not surprisingly, there was nothing. She tried to ignore it, but this time there was also a sort of after-hurt; it felt like she'd been kicked in the chest and there was a huge, smarting bruise covering the area, and it hurt to touch. Sighing to herself she carefully made her way down the ladder and slipped into the nearest bathroom.

Closing the door and turning the light off, she pulled her shirt down to look at her chest. There was no literal bruise, but there _was_ still some blood around her mouth that she'd forgotten about, which wasn't a good thing considering she now had a ton of roommates and all of them were a hell of a lot more prying than Kimmy-Jin had been. She cleaned herself off and went back up to the attic. She made it into her bed without feeling another jab, but her chest now felt like it was too tight, like there was an extremely heavy weight on it. It reminded her of suffocation. Screwing her eyes shut, she tried to ignore it and fall asleep.

In the morning her body felt weak, and she was shaking and sweating profusely. Her head pounded like she had a migraine and in the back of her mind she pitied anyone who wanted to try to talk to her in the next hour or so; she was in such a bad mood she felt her fangs come out halfway on instinct. And she hadn't even gotten out of bed.

Luckily Amy was still asleep - it _was_ right before nine - so Beca had no troubles getting downstairs to the kitchen for some water. She longed for the dulling affects of ibuprofen, but since she was an undead being, things like that didn't work on her. She remembered once feeling a bit cheated about all the medical advancements the world made when she'd never had anything like it when she was alive. Then again, that was back in the 1640's-1660's. She leaned against the counter and massaged her temples.

While Amy wasn't alone in sleeping in, a few of the others were up as well. Jessica and Ashley seemed to be outside on the deck, and Lily was playing a Nintendo DS with her headphones on in the dining room. Beca went back upstairs to retrieve her phone, but mostly she just wanted to check if Aubrey or Chloe were up. She could smell Chloe and hear her soft breathing, suggesting she was still asleep. Aubrey, on the other hand, wasn't in their room.

Beca got her phone and went down into the living room to lounge out on the couch, intent on trying to do something that might tone down her headache, shakes, and abnormal sweating. Lying there didn't work and after an hour of what was like napping for her she let out a groan and rolled over onto her side to curl into a ball.

The sound of the door opening got her attention and she looked up in time to see Aubrey walk in; she was wearing running clothes and her skin glistened slightly with sweat. Beca's heart remembered how to skip a beat somehow, and before she really knew what she was doing she was right in front of Aubrey and throwing herself at the blonde, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. She smelled sweet.

"Beca - I'm all sweaty and gross, come on," Aubrey whined, but Beca was just glad she wasn't still complaining about being inconspicuous. Beca also refused to let go, and after a few more moments Aubrey let out a sharp sigh and returned the embrace. She pressed her nose into Beca's hair and the brunette felt a rush of calm; the shaking of her body reduced a bit. "You're all sweaty, too," Aubrey muttered as she pulled back.

Beca stepped back to give the blonde space and ran a hand through her hair. What was going on with her? She shrugged. "Yeah, apparently," she said uselessly.

Aubrey scowled in confusion. "I seem to recall that you _don't_ sweat, though."

She was probably remembering the day Beca and Chloe had gotten into that strange race of sorts and had almost run the rest of the Bellas over due to their inhuman speed. Beca smirked, recalling how baffled Chloe had been that she couldn't smell her sweat. Now it was a humorous memory even if the situation had been a tad bit tense at the time.

"Beca? Are you okay?" Aubrey asked, concern lacing her tone like thick syrup, ripping Beca from her thoughts. She pressed the back of her hand to Beca's forehead. "You're shaking a lot..." she added almost under her breath.

"I'm fine," Beca assured her, though in all honesty she wasn't exactly sure about that. She reached up to take Aubrey's hand in her own, holding it between them.

Aubrey frowned. It would obviously take a lot more than that to convince her. "Have you eaten lately?" she asked, giving Beca's hand a small tug to indicate she follow her into the kitchen. Beca did just that, feeling a bit like a puppy in the way she trailed after the blonde (the same could be said for Chloe most of the time as well, but that also hit closer to home).

"Yeah, I went out last night," Beca replied.

"You're sure?" Aubrey reiterated slowly, slipping her hand away so she could go over to the cupboard where they'd put mostly just red solo cups until they got more actual dishes. She filled it with water at the sink, keeping an eye on Beca as she did so. "Not that I think you're lying to me, but since I've never seen you like this I'm naturally worried it has something to do with you having not eaten enough," she elaborated, flushing lightly.

Beca shrugged again. "I'm sure, Bree. Besides, this isn't even those kind of symptoms. I have absolutely no idea what this is." She cringed a little at the instantly panicked look that entered Aubrey's eyes. She should have known better than to say something like that. At the very least she could have phrased it a bit better so that she wouldn't create so much worry. But before Aubrey could do much more than open her mouth their attention was pulled to the sound of soft singing; Chloe practically skipped into the kitchen, grinning at them the second she noticed them standing there. Then she seemed to take in the gravity of the room and the grin thinned out to be replaced by an uncertain frown.

"Everything okay?" she asked, drifting closer. Her eyes flicked around very quickly and she ran a hand down one of Beca's arms and one of Aubrey's in a sign of affection.

"Something's wrong with Beca," Aubrey said.

"Hold on - no, that isn't true," Beca half-cried, holding her hands up as Chloe whirled on her with wide eyes. "I'm _fine_. I'm just-"

"Sweating," Chloe interrupted. Her nose twitched a tiny bit.

Beca let out a short huff and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, and I'll admit that's pretty _weird_ , but I'm already feeling a _lot_ better than I was this morning," she growled lightly. And it was true - the second Chloe came up to them Beca realized she wasn't shaking anymore, and her headache was much duller. Suddenly, it dawned on her what all this could be. She took a second to glance around as well, making sure Jessica and Ashley were still outside and Lily was still listening to music. "Okay, I think I actually have an explanation, and now that I think about it, this totally makes sense. I'm basically having withdrawal symptoms," she said.

"Withdrawal from what?" Aubrey asked in a slightly higher pitch.

"You two."

Realization lit up Chloe's eyes and she said, "Ohhhhh..."

Aubrey looked back and forth from her to Beca. "What? I don't understand."

"Vampires don't just form relationships with anyone, Bree. If we find someone and develop very strong feelings for them, we start to also feel what we call the 'sire effect'," Beca said, keeping her voice low. "I've mentioned that I can't be too far away from Nadine for super long periods of time, because we're so deeply connected. The same is going to start being true for the three of us - except, like, ten times worse. Or more. What I'm saying is that I'm probably going to start feeling withdrawal if I'm not around the two of you pretty much constantly."

"Werewolves are actually very similar," Chloe tacked on, nodding, and it was one of those rare times wherein she looked _completely_ serious. "It's how we know the relationship is going to be very _real_ , more than just... dating, I guess. But unlike vampires, I'm going to start being able to feel what _you two_ feel. And it'll get really confusing, at least according to my mama. She said this is how she knew my dad was going to be her mate."

Aubrey paled just a fraction, and Chloe looked like she regretted bringing that up, but the blonde swept on. "Okay, so does this mean we literally have to be with each other twenty-four/seven for the rest of our lives?" she asked. To Beca's relief she sounded more curious than freaked out, a good sign if there ever was one.

She shook her head at the same time Chloe did. "I mean, it's going to be difficult when we're not together a ton, but the feelings won't be as strong for very long," she said.

"They start to fade and are really only brought up in pretty specific circumstances, because they will always _remain_ ," Chloe added.

"Exactly." Beca found it interesting that they had this in common as creatures.

Aubrey still looked a little confused, though not necessarily in a bad way (not to Beca, anyway). She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Well... what can I do to help those feelings not be so strong? Or awful?"

Chloe immediately snapped into a wolfish grin. "You could-"

"Hey guys," a voice interrupted them, making Chloe jump; Beca had heard the footsteps approaching and figured the redhead had too. They turned to see Stacie enter the kitchen. She smiled at them kindly and said, "Cynthia-Rose and I were thinking we'd go out and do a little shopping. I thought I'd let you guys know since you're basically the ones in charge."

Aubrey waved a hand in dismissal. "I'm sure whatever you two decide to buy will be fine. I trust you to make good enough decisions together."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Chloe tacked on, looking pretty riled up all of a sudden.

Stacie nodded. "Okay. We'll go after breakfast." She went and got something from the fridge, one of the few things actually in there, and went out to the back deck. Beca could tell, based on her hearing and smell, that Cynthia-Rose was up now as well, but she'd gone straight into the living room instead. That just left Amy still asleep. Beca didn't think she was going to wake up any time soon, and she smirked briefly in amusement.

Chloe growled irritably. "Now that she's gone-"

"Let's go upstairs," Aubrey interrupted gently, and she led the way up to the master bedroom. She shut the door softly and went to her dresser. Their bedroom had its own bathroom, making a total of three bathrooms in the house. A bundle of clothes in her arms, she turned back to them, reaching up to take her hair down from its ponytail. Beside her, Beca felt Chloe's body warm up a notch. She forgot for a second that Aubrey was looking at them expectantly, one eyebrow raised patiently.

"Oh," Chloe croaked, and she cleared her throat, shaking herself in a way reminiscent of a dog. The earlier grin quickly returned and she sauntered up to Aubrey. Beca arched an impressed eyebrow at the way the blonde didn't even blush this time. "I can certainly think of a few ways you can help," Chloe said, and without further ado she pulled Aubrey in for a kiss.

Beca gasped in a mixture of surprise and a feeling that cut deeply through her; part of her body just didn't know how to react to what she was looking at, and the part of her that did pretty much wanted to crumple to the floor. She kept upright, though. Somehow.

The kiss didn't last too long - they still respected Aubrey's wish to not go _super_ fast - and Chloe stepped back. Again she didn't waste any time in crossing back over to Beca, cupping her face with both hands and kissing her hungrily. Beca could feel her body thrumming and her own shivered. She vaguely caught the sound of Aubrey sighing, and once Chloe pulled away she was a little surprised to see the blonde standing a lot closer to them, the clothes she'd grabbed on the floor. She glanced swiftly to Chloe and pulled Beca close, taking her turn in kissing the brunette. This time Beca was a bit more prepared; she exchanged a subtle glance with Chloe, and while Aubrey kissed her she allowed her hands to roam a little, only really up and down her back and arms. Chloe stepped closer and moved Aubrey's hair off her neck - Beca opened her eyes for a second to see her gently bite down on and lightly tug her earlobe.

Aubrey's body reacted instantly. She shuddered violently and made a strangled sort of noise that Beca swallowed, taking the opportunity to deepen the kiss.

After a few more moments Aubrey pulled away a bit jerkily, simultaneously sucking in a heaving breath. She was very flushed and Beca could pretty much feel the coursing of blood in her veins; if she hadn't eaten just last night, the feeling would have driven her right up the wall. Instead she was able to control herself. She leaned back a little but kept her arms wrapped around Aubrey's waist. Chloe's hands were on her hips, and she retreated from Aubrey's neck. There was a small red mark on her flushed skin right where her jaw met her ear.

Aubrey made a nervous sound that very well could have been a laugh. She was smiling, so at least Beca didn't think they'd gone too far too quick.

Chloe nuzzled into the crook of her neck. "Thanks, Bree."

"I-I didn't do anything," Aubrey stammered. Her body trembled a little, and she shook her head as she disentangled herself from the two of them. "I really need to shower before anything like that happens again," she scoffed.

"Again?" Chloe echoed, perking up hopefully.

Aubrey gave her a simpering look and turned back towards the bathroom without a word, retrieving her forgotten clothes on the way. She shut the door and a second later the muffled sound of running water came through.

Beca slinked an arm around Chloe's waist, prompting her closer, and kissed her jaw. "You should probably get something to eat," she murmured.

Chloe smirked down at her. "I don't know if my hunger can be satisfied."

"I know how you feel," Beca chuckled, "but it'll be worth the wait."

* * *

Sometime later in the day, Beca sat at the kitchen counter on her laptop, replying to an email Nadine had sent her. Her sire was still knee-deep in the trial concerning Ned and Vivianne - it wasn't surprising that it was taking so long, since they were the prince and princess. For now. The recent development was that Darragh and Hedevi had relinquished their roles in the trial, leaving it up to the Council to decide what happened to their sired. Apparently Beca informing her sire of how Vivianne had Chloe tortured was sort of a breaking point for the king and queen, and they no longer believed they would be able to make a worthy decision without, in layman's terms, getting too emotional over it.

Beca hit send and glanced up at the sound of footsteps approaching, recognizing Aubrey's scent right away - she used a very specific shampoo and body wash. The blonde smiled at her in greeting, but she was also frowning. "What's up?" Beca asked.

"I was looking for Chloe to ask her if she's seen my math textbook from last year. It isn't with the rest of my books," Aubrey said, sounding distracted.

Closing her laptop, Beca hummed, trying to think of where she'd last seen the redhead. She'd mostly been helping Stacie and Cynthia-Rose after they got back with not just some much needed groceries, but also some other common household appliances like actual dishware. And a TV. Beca intended on asking how they paid for it all at some point. Anyway, she recalled that, after hooking the TV up, Chloe and Stacie had gotten pretty wrapped up in some reality show.

"Did you look in the living room?" she said to Aubrey. Based on what she could hear from the room (though she tended to tune most things out, for her own sanity) the same show was still playing. She slipped off her seat and walked up to Aubrey. The blonde still looked really distracted, and didn't even seem to have heard her. "Bree? You okay?" Beca asked gently, resting a hand on her lower back and rubbing it in small circles.

Aubrey smiled at her and sighed lightly. "Sorry. Yes. I was just spacing out. Did you say the living room?" she said.

Beca nodded. "She's watching something with Stacie. What do you need that textbook for, anyway? I mean, you're not taking the class _again_ this year, are you?"

"No, and seeing as I don't need it, I thought I could just sell it," Aubrey replied with a shrug, turning in the direction of the living room. Beca followed her a bit more slowly. There was clearly something on Aubrey's mind, and she could tell it had pretty much nothing to do with the textbook. Perhaps it was just the culmination of stresses over moving and how close their return to classes was.

Chloe looked away from the TV the second Aubrey and Beca walked in. "Hey, what's up?" she asked cheerily. On the screen Beca could see a group of people, split evenly between young men and women, who all appeared to share the same house. It was just one of those typical reality shows with over-exaggerated drama. She could see, though, how it could be addicting. Stacie only spared them a glance before returning her total attention back to the TV. It looked like she was possibly paying special attention to one or two of the young men in particular and the hints of a smug smirk tugged at her lips.

"Have you seen my math textbook from last year?" Aubrey asked.

"Uh," Chloe drawled, brows knitting. "I... don't think so? Why?"

"I just need it."

"Maybe you left it at the old apartment."

Aubrey's scowl returned, harsher than before, and she shook her head briskly. "I don't _forget_ things, Chlo. It was probably just misplaced."

Quirking an eyebrow for about a second, Chloe got up from the couch. "Why don't we just _check_ at the old apartment before you start tearing up the rest of the stuff we haven't dealt with," she suggested kindly.

"But if we look through the boxes first we can just get things out and put them away."

"Aubrey. Come on. It's even more unlikely for you to have disorganized something than it is for you to have forgotten it." Chloe gestured toward the door and herded Aubrey and Beca out, shooting the brunette a questioning glance. Beca nodded to say she would in fact be joining them. "I'll drive," Chloe added, and she grabbed Aubrey's car keys. The blonde rolled her eyes but nevertheless went out to her car. Beca got in the backseat.

It was a really short drive (the campus was damn close), but it took Chloe a little bit longer to get a key back from the dorm supervisor.

"Okay," she half-grunted, unlocking the door to their old place, "we gotta make this quick, 'cause someone's coming by to move in." Aubrey passed her swiftly, making straight for her old bedroom. Chloe gave a light huff and put her hands on her hips; Beca moved to enter, but an awkward feeling coursing through her body made her immobile She stepped back.

"Damn," she hissed.

Chloe practically whipped around, causing her hair to swish. "What's wrong?"

"You guys don't own this place anymore. Unless you can get the dorm supervisor up here to invite me in, I'll have to stay out in the hall."

Chloe laughed and frowned apologetically. "Sorry, Becs. This really shouldn't take too long though. I can wait out there with you, if you want."

Beca shook her head. "Nah, you better help Aubrey find that textbook before she has a stroke." With a quick nod Chloe moved away from the doorway; Beca stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and turned so she wasn't just staring at the open door, since that would probably seem odd to passerby. She gazed down the hall, first one way, then the other. It was pretty quiet, although with her hearing she could tell that someone else was moving into an apartment in the floor below them somewhere. She shifted so she was leaning against the wall next to the door, hiking a foot up and holding it against the wall as well. Pulling her phone out from her jacket pocket she opened the one game app she had.

Close to a half-hour went by and it didn't sound like Aubrey and Chloe were making any progress; she could hear Aubrey making a snappy comment as she guessed they headed into their living room area. She bit her lip, wondering if there was any way she and Chloe could relieve the blonde of some of the stresses she clearly held. Then again, there really seemed to be something fairly specific that had dampened her mood throughout the day. Beca ran through a mental list of possibilities for what it could be, but the sound of nearing, soft voices interrupted her. She glanced to the side to see a couple in their late forties, perhaps even early fifties. A young man who looked more like he was in his early thirties and who was probably their son trailed after them, a slightly irritated, forced smile on his face. They walked in Beca's direction at a slow pace, the couple talking to each other in hushed whispers. Beca, in respect to their privacy, didn't bother trying to make out what they were saying.

The woman looked up as they got closer and noticed Beca standing there. Both her looks and the way she carried herself were pretty intimidating. She had blonde hair, bangs cut straight across her forehead, the rest of it up in an intricate bun. Her clothes looked expensive and were the style of a comfortably well-off housewife. She had a pearl necklace and matching earrings. She smiled at Beca - it was a bit too patronizing for Beca's liking, and she returned it very quickly, her nose scrunching up in an accidental start to a sneer. Her husband next to her had slightly receding brown hair with a bit of gray in it, and neatly trimmed stubble that was definitely more gray than brown. He wore an immaculate suit and looked perpetually unhappy. Beca noticed a really expensive watch on his left wrist. The young man behind them had platinum blonde hair that was styled in a pretty impressive Mohawk. He wore much more casual clothes - blue cargo shorts and a light gray t-shirt, and sandals - and glasses with rectangular black frames. His features were sharp, resembling his mother's.

"Hello," the woman greeted, and the three of them came to a stop a few paces away. She gestured to the still open door. "Do you live in this apartment?" she asked.

"Uh, no," Beca said. "Sorry, are you who's coming to move in?"

The woman scowled in confusion; beside her, her husband leaned forward a touch. "As far as we're concerned, someone's already living here. Our daughter," he said sharply.

A bit of dread nearly made Beca wince, and she stiffened instinctively. At the same time she moved on autopilot to make herself seem less like a delinquent, although she wasn't entirely sure how she could accomplish that. "You're Aubrey's parents?" she asked. Her voice came out a touch high-pitched and she wanted to kick herself.

"Yes. Is Aubrey here?" Mrs. Posen said.

Beca jabbed a thumb at the open door. "She's - yeah, she's here."

Hardly a second passed after the last word left her mouth and Chloe suddenly appeared, grinning at Beca and not noticing their company. "We found the book! It was under the couch. Probably my fault, in all honesty," she chirped. Her nose gave a little twitch and she turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Posen, and Aubrey's brother (Beca assumed) behind them. To Beca's minute surprise she actually appeared to pale a little, and the smile she offered them was shaky. "Oh," she said, laughing nervously, "h-hi."

Mrs. Posen's eyes narrowed for a _second_. It was the clearest disapproval Beca had ever seen. She stepped forward, probably to brush Chloe aside and enter the apartment, but thankfully that was the same second Aubrey exited with a textbook in her arms. She noticed her parents and brother a hell of a lot faster than Chloe did, and hesitated in closing the door the rest of the way. Unlike Chloe she didn't pale, nor did she blush - the two reactions that were most typical of her. Instead her expression morphed into something blank that reminded Beca of a mask; she got a bad feeling, and it only increased when Aubrey's lips pulled up into a smile much like her brother's. Slightly irritated, forced, and eerily polite.

Beca and Chloe exchanged a glance, both shifting away from the family. Beca didn't need her heightened senses to be able to tell just how hostile and tense the air had turned the second Aubrey recognized her family standing there. She just wished she and Chloe didn't have to be in the middle of it - she had sorely underestimated not only Aubrey's apparent resistance to seeing her parents, but also how strong her parents control over her was. Hardly even a minute had gone by and Aubrey already looked like an entirely different person. Beca also noted, with a touch of regret, that she understood where Chloe's frustrations with the blonde's parents came from - and they hadn't so much as officially met.

This was definitely going to be interesting.

* * *

 _A/N: We've already spent some time with Nadine and Chloe's family; I thought it might be nice to introduce Aubrey's *cackles maniacally*  
_

 _But seriously, this was one of the plot points I actually planned on including in this. Hope you all will look forward to how it plays out! Please keep reviewing, favoriting, and following! Your reviews give me life and motivation. Till next time, y'all._


	27. Chapter XXVII

**\+ XXVII +**

"Mother. Daddy. I thought you said you wanted to see me tomorrow?"

Aubrey could feel knots forming in her upper back and shoulders, just from the added tension being in the same vicinity as her parents gave her. It had long since ceased to be from her mother's insistence for excruciatingly straight-backed posture. But despite being upset that they were unannounced and early, she was pleasantly surprised that her brother, Xavier, was with them. She could see a caring sympathy in his pale, light blue eyes (he got them from their mother, like most traits to his appearance; Aubrey took after their father more).

"We thought we'd surprise you," Mrs. Posen said crisply, and Aubrey mentally rolled her eyes - there was no way they'd want to "surprise her" unless they had some ulterior motive. She stepped forward, opening her arms, and Aubrey met her halfway in a loose embrace. She did the same with her father, and with Xavier she actually held him tightly, pressing her nose into his vaguely bony chest. He rubbed a hand up and down her back.

"This girl here said someone else is moving into your apartment," Mr. Posen said after she had stepped away from Xavier, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"That's right," Aubrey half-sighed. Since she'd been expecting to deal with them tomorrow - they'd texted her a little while after she'd gotten out of the shower, saying they were going to be in town and that they'd love to see her, so why don't they treat her to dinner and they could talk? - she wasn't yet all that prepared to talk to them. It wasn't like they had a strained relationship, and she loved them to death, but lately it had been feeling like a bit too much. It didn't help that the main reason they were in town was because they were going to see one of her father's old friends from law school. The fact that she was in the same place was just a happy coincidence, and that hurt.

It hurt even more to know that she was with two people who made her happier than she ever thought possible, and she had yet to figure out just _how_ to share that with them.

"Where are you living now?" her mother asked, and her gaze darted swiftly to Chloe - she and Beca had drifted away quite a bit to give the four of them some space. "You weren't evicted, were you? Honey, if you were kicked out your father and I can have a word with the dorm supervisor, set things right," she added.

"We weren't kicked out, we just moved. All the Bellas went in on a house close to campus. In fact, we all just moved yesterday," Aubrey explained curtly.

Xavier's eyes lit up a fraction. "That sounds awesome! Nice idea, Bree."

"Actually, it was Chloe's idea," Aubrey said, gesturing to the redhead; she was unable to contain her own excitement when her brother was clearly happy for her. She turned so she was standing in such a way that she could look between her family and Chloe and Beca. Although she could see their hesitance, she insisted that introductions were in order. "These are my parents, and my brother, Xavier," she said, then looked to her parents and indicated the redhead and brunette in turn. "This is Chloe, and Beca."

"Nice to finally meet you," Chloe said quietly; Beca offered a mute wave and a vague smile, gaze settling on Xavier.

"You're the roommate," Mrs. Posen said - a statement, not a question, but Chloe nodded anyway. "Yes, Aubrey's told us quite a bit about you." Her eyes slid away from her, and Aubrey recognized the disapproval in them. Her chest tightened and the sting of tears appeared behind her eyes. She blinked a few times to ward them off, slightly surprised they wanted to be forced to the surface so soon. "We really were hoping to take you to dinner, honey," her mother went on. "Your father has made reservations at a nice restaurant downtown. Why don't you drive with us?" Her tone left no room for argument.

Aubrey looked apologetically to Chloe and Beca. "Oh, don't worry about going out to dinner," Chloe said quickly, waving a hand. In a moment she seemed to have forgotten Aubrey's parents were there - it didn't last long, though. "Your family's here, you should definitely spend time with them. Beca and I will just go back to the house." The brunette nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Aubrey said. She handed Chloe the textbook she was still holding, and the redhead and Beca smiled at her as they walked past her parents, saying polite goodbyes. Xavier gave them both warm looks as they passed by.

They were gone quicker than Aubrey would have liked.

* * *

At the restaurant, they sat at a central table for four; Aubrey and Xavier on one side, their parents across from them. Aubrey pretended to be engrossed in the menu. Her parents weren't looking all that happy, and she assumed that was because of Xavier's Mohawk. _She_ had known about it - he'd had it for perhaps a year - but she knew they hadn't. He called them every once in awhile so therefore it wasn't a shock that they hadn't actually seen his face in a year, or possibly more. Part of Aubrey wished she had the courage to do what he did - defy their parents, but not in a disrespectful or radical way or anything. He just didn't do exactly what they had wanted him to do and wasn't afraid to be himself.

Aubrey thought of Chloe and Beca. She knew, without even having to ask Chloe, that the redhead's family was probably head over heels about the change in their relationship for the better. She could also assume that Nadine was equally happy for Beca, though probably in a much calmer way compared to the Beale's. She wished she could share that with her own parents. Hell, she wasn't even entirely sure how Xavier would react. He probably wouldn't even blink if she said she was dating another woman, but she was dating _two_ women. She sighed silently and closed her menu. There really wasn't any use in hiding.

"I didn't expect to see you, Xavier," she spoke up softly, angling herself towards her brother, "but I'm really happy you're here."

He half-smirked, half-grinned, setting his own menu down. "Mom and dad mentioned they were coming to see you, and that they'd like to see me, too. Fortunately I had vacation time coming up, and I got a pretty cheap flight since we planned this at the beginning of the summer." He reached over to rest his arm on the back of her chair. "So what's new?"

"Not - not much," Aubrey stammered, caught off guard by his statement. They'd planned this at the beginning of the summer? It was unfortunate, how surprising that was. She glanced to their parents; her father looked awkward instead of stern and otherwise emotionless, and her mother was smiling the same way she used to when she and Xavier were younger. When she'd been remarkably more carefree. It threw Aubrey off guard even more.

"Yeah? Well, besides the new house, right?" Xavier said.

"We hope we didn't make it seem like we were upset that you've moved, honey," their mother piped up, reaching across the table to rest her hand on Aubrey's. "Your father and I were just surprised, is all."

"It's okay," Aubrey said, unsure what else to say at the moment.

Her mother developed a slightly odd expression and she instantly knew what was coming, and she braced herself for it. "You can hardly blame us, though. That girl - you said her name was Beca? She looked like she was up to no good," Mrs. Posen chuckled lightly. "And I must say, based on what you've told us about Chloe, I don't feel like she has the best judgment. However, I would be happy to be proved wrong. That's another reason why we wanted to visit with you." She exchanged a soft glance with her husband. "We realized we don't really know any of the important people in your life - outside of us, of course."

Aubrey was still surprised, but she tried to hide it better this time. While she was happy that her parents seemed to be loosening up a little, she was also hesitant. This was a lot like how they'd been when she was still in middle school. The second she'd entered high school, things had changed. There had been expectations. There still were - college had made it even worse, putting a pressure on their relationship with the heights of what they believed she do. And she wasn't bitter about it. She _did_ want to be a lawyer, and not at all just because her father wanted it for her first. It was nice, though, to see her parents coming back around. She felt like they could have a relationship where they recognized her as an adult who could make her own choices - but now she wanted to know when they'd reconciled with Xavier.

"What's new with you?" she asked her brother.

He shrugged, taking a sip of water before answering. "The same, really. At the beginning of the summer I actually went to Romania for this story-"

Aubrey interrupted him with an abrupt snort of laughter, provoked by a fierce feeling of disbelief. How _absurd_ that her brother was relatively in the same place she'd been, and right about at the same time, too. Xavier raised both his eyebrows at her in bemusement.

"What was that for?" he chuckled.

"Sorry. It's nothing. That must have been pretty nice. What's Romania like?" She assumed her parents wouldn't be all that happy to know about her off-the-cuff trip to Romania; at the very least, they'd ask questions about why they hadn't seen the payment for such a plane ticket, since - as far as she knew - they could still see her credit card purchases.

"It's really pretty. Very green. I got to look at some old castles."

"Really? Up close?"

"No, just from afar. They were owned by this company, so I couldn't go on the property, but they were kind of on the way to where the focus of my story was so I got to see them. My guides gave me a brief history. They're pretty cool - I bet it'd be killer to go inside of them." He started gesturing animatedly with his hands; out of the corner of her eye, Aubrey could tell their parents were quite interested in what he was saying, which was a bit of a first. "They were relatively close together, which was why that company owned both of them. One of them was pretty much in the middle of this forest, and on the other side of that - and right at the ocean - was this other one. The second one actually reminded me of-"

"Bram Stoker's _Dracula_ ," Aubrey finished for him. She flushed a little at the way he raised his eyebrows at her again. _Why did I have to say that?_ she berated herself.

"Exactly," he said. He shrugged and reached once more for his water. "Anyway, the story wasn't a super difficult one - at least not compared to some of the others I've done, but those were in more intense situations. This was just about some really strange happenings at the town nearest to the two castles. A string of inexplicable deaths."

Aubrey's heart sank a little; even though she held little to no sympathy for Ned and Vivianne whatsoever, they weren't the only vampires living in the area, and she had absolutely no qualms with the Kommissar. Then again, she didn't think the German vampire would have been so stupid as to pick on nearby townspeople. But that was mostly just an assumed hope.

"Were they accidents?" Mr. Posen asked, swirling his glass of red wine.

Xavier shrugged. "Couldn't say, actually. The authorities really weren't sure, but there was this unspoken collective that believed they were murders."

"How awful!" their mother gasped.

"Yeah. I won't talk about it much more, since it doesn't get much better from there."

Their waiter came over, and the conversation paused while they all ordered.

"Really, Aubrey, there's nothing else going on in your life?" Mrs. Posen asked once the waiter departed. Aubrey shook her head and her mother added, "Why don't you tell us about your win at those a cappella competitions, then."

"Oh," Aubrey half-huffed. "Well... we got as far as nationals before we lost, but over spring break I got a call saying that the group who won second place got disqualified, which meant the Bellas got to go on to finals." She glanced down, smiling fondly. "The main reason we won is really all because of Beca. She encouraged me to make some changes, and helped all of us find a new sound. It was really just... fantastic. And this year-" she reigned herself back in before she went farther down that rabbit hole, at least for now "-I'm hoping we can enter into the Worlds competition. That would most likely mean not competing for finals here."

Her parents nodded. "Worlds?" Mr. Posen echoed.

"A cappella groups from all over the world come to the same competition, usually one group from each country," Aubrey elaborated.

Xavier whistled. "Sounds intense. I bet you guys could win it, though."

Aubrey laughed a little. "The last time you saw us perform was with all the seniors. Chloe and I are the only two members who have been in the group now longer than a year."

"Speaking of," Mrs. Posen interjected before her son could offer a response, "I know you've told us a decent bit about that girl, since you became fast friends and then roommates, but I want to know some more _specifics_. Right now all _I_ can say about her is that her overly optimistic nature, which you've mentioned, is perhaps inappropriate and makes her come across as a washout. Coincidentally, your other friend seemed a bit like a disaster as well."

Aubrey scowled in offense; she took a deep breath and reminded herself not to get too defensive (right now). "Chloe isn't a washout, mother. She's very passionate about what she wants to do, and there's nothing wrong with her being optimistic. That's just the way she is." She paused, biting her lip. "And Beca may _look_... alternative... but she isn't a troublemaker."

Her mother held up her hands in surrender. "Of course. Forgive me, but seeing as how I only just met them a half hour ago, I have very little to go off of besides assumptions."

That was something that had always bothered Aubrey as she got older. Her parents would make snap judgments, and only became more open-minded either when they wanted to be or when their assumptions were proved incorrect. Not a _particularly_ bad thing, but Aubrey knew that if they'd never met Chloe or Beca, they'd continue to be disapproving.

"What do their parents do?" her father asked, slipping back into the more practical, business-like and vaguely emotionless side of him.

"Chloe's mother works in a library, and her father is an electrician. Beca's parents are... they died when she was... fairly young, so her aunt has taken care of her since then. She's in local government," Aubrey said, feeling a slight twinge of guilt at having to lie a little.

"That's interesting."

"You and them seem pretty close," Xavier commented, looking at her with a suspecting sort of twinkle to his eye.

"They're my best friends," Aubrey said simply. Not at all a lie - just an incomplete truth.

"And how are your studies?" her father asked.

She talked about her classes from last year and described those she would be taking this year, saying that things were going very well but not necessarily giving super emotional responses. She didn't want to talk about her classes when her parents seemed to really want to connect with her on a level they hadn't touched on since elementary school. After a short while, right when they got their food, Aubrey could tell her parents had noticed how little she was engaging. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Xavier looking at her a bit pointedly.

"I was actually really surprised to see you today," she said to her parents, hoping to deflect the spotlight from herself some.

Her mother smiled. "I hope we didn't catch you at a bad time. I know it was a bit out of the blue and we didn't give you a chance to say you had other plans, if you did."

Aubrey shook her head. "No, I didn't have any other plans. We're all just settling into the new house." She took her time taking a few bites of her food. An odd feeling had settled in the pit of her stomach and she didn't actually have any sort of appetite, but she didn't want to be rude, nor did she want anyone to question _why_ she wasn't eating.

"We had a few plans for tomorrow, as well," her mother spoke up. "Are you still free?"

"Yes," Aubrey said softly.

Xavier nudged her gently with his elbow. "I thought you and I could go do something in the morning, just have a brother-sister date. What do you say?"

"That sounds wonderful," Aubrey half-sighed.

"Now, honey," her mother said, and like Xavier, she had a suspecting glint to her eyes - she didn't seem to have caught onto anything specific, though. "If there's any big news you have for us, we are all ears."

Aubrey shook her head again, smiling more than she was physically able at the moment, and tried not to avert her gaze down to her food. "Nothing I haven't already mentioned."

* * *

The next morning Aubrey got up early again for a run, this time with her brother; it had been her idea, despite the fact that she typically didn't run two days in a row, but she felt she had too much pent up energy after the dinner with her parents. Besides, running helped her think. Xavier pulled up and parked on the front curb as she was doing her stretches. She thought it would be the best way to talk to him, if their old habits remained more or less the same. He'd been in track in high school, and although Aubrey hadn't, she got into running because of him. He insisted she help him train. Then they'd just fallen into a pattern.

"Hey, Bree," he greeted with a brief wave, smirk in place. Aubrey could see the very slight tilt to his brows that suggested he was upset about something. "This is a really lovely morning to go on a run. I wish I went to college here. It's a great area." He joined her in stretching, but he did so a bit halfheartedly.

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I really like it here."

"Bree, you seem distracted. You did last night, too. Is everything alright?"

She was thinking about what had happened when she got back to the house after the dinner; she'd been pleasantly surprised that Chloe and Beca had waited up for her, not that it was super late or anything, and she'd told them about the dinner. Neither of them had made it obvious but she could tell they were slightly disappointed she hadn't mentioned anything to her parents about the nature of their relationship. She was terrified to do so, but the guilt of hiding herself, Chloe and Beca from her parents really made her want to do _something_. The problem was in the execution of it. She just couldn't think of a delicate way to pull it off.

"I'm fine," she said shortly. "I didn't plan out a very long run - I hope you don't mind." Xavier shrugged and shook his head, and she took off at a jog in the direction of the route she'd planned out on her run yesterday, just with modifications to make it much shorter.

Xavier caught up easily so they were side by side. "You know you can't lie to me. _Something's_ going on. Whatever it is, you don't have to keep it to yourself. I know how you can get and you're being unfair to yourself if you're giving yourself something to stress about when school hasn't even started," he said, sounding partially joking but mostly serious.

Aubrey wished it was that easy. She glanced at him and saw the concern in his features was much more pronounced. "I reacted weirdly when you said you went to Romania because I was _also_ in Romania around the same exact time," she said, wanting to get over a smaller thing weighing on her conscious and hoping to stall at the same time. Xavier's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I was actually in one of those castles you got to see. The one in the forest."

"Seriously? How?" Xavier asked.

"Beca - my friend - she... her aunt has a friend who works for the company that owns those two castles, so they gave us the opportunity to visit one."

"Where was Chloe when you two went there?"

"With us. For the most part."

Xavier scoffed lightly. "That isn't the full story."

Aubrey hadn't even contemplated what it would be like to tell her family that she was dating a _werewolf_ and a _vampire_ , so the remark rolled right off her back. "It's really nothing special - I just wasn't sure if I should tell mom and dad because, in all honesty, I just don't want to deal with having to answer all the questions I'm sure they'd have."

"Like why you went overseas with a friend they haven't heard about until now."

They turned right at the end of the block, moving away from the houses and the lake, and heading for the entrance to a path that went towards and through a park. Aubrey was relieved they were still so close to the forest considering Chloe needed a place to turn every month - for that matter she wondered how the rest of the Bellas were going to react to how strange she would act around the full moon.

"Do you have a problem with Beca?" she asked, tone unintentionally sharp.

"I haven't even met her, how could I have a problem with her?"

Aubrey mentally rolled her eyes at herself. She was starting to breathe a bit harder, and with all the anxiety she felt, it was as if there was a literal weight on her chest. A ringing started in her ears. Her vision suddenly went blotchy and she blinked to chase it away; the next thing she knew the ground was coming up to meet her, and she just barely managed to catch herself. She scraped the heels of her hands and one knee, which already felt worse than her hands, and she realized she had started to cry. Xavier's worried voice fell slightly muffled on her ears.

"Jesus Christ, Aubrey! Are you okay?" He helped her up and guided her towards a nearby bench. She limped, the sting in her knee too fresh and startling to put more weight on. He sat down next to her and took her hands in his own to look at them. "Shit," he hissed through his teeth. "That was quite a fall. I don't think I've ever seen you trip before in my life. You take after mom with the natural elegance..."

Sniffling, Aubrey drew her hands away to cradle them in her lap. She stared down at them, her mind unusually blank.

"Aubrey? Have you pulled yourself into a panic attack?"

When she got into high school, she would occasionally make all her anxieties worse than they really were most of the time, and she would fall into a self-induced panic attack. Xavier knew all the signs of that by this point. He always just _knew_. In the back of her mind she remembered nearly doing this to herself the first night she'd hung out with Beca outside of Bellas rehearsal, when Chloe had been dealing with turning (unbeknownst to her at the time). She shook her head in response and looked up at her brother. He offered her a supportive smile and tilted his head to the side in something like anticipation; his Mohawk didn't even sway.

She took in a deep, vaguely shuddering breath. She was smart - she knew it would be self-destructive of her to keep this to herself for much longer, now that she'd started thinking about it, and it just didn't feel right to hide something so important from her brother. "Can I tell you something?" she asked, voice hardly above a whisper. Xavier nodded and she cleared her throat, fidgeting a little to stall for just one second longer. "I... I'm dating Chloe."

"Aubrey, that's nothing to-"

"And Beca."

"-stress yourself out over," Xavier finished, then his mouth formed a small "o" of surprise and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "What?"

Feeling her face heat up, Aubrey covered it with her hands, not at all wanting to have to look him in the eye right now. Her heart pounded in her chest and she could feel nausea starting to overwhelm her. She swallowed a few times in a lame attempt to keep bile from rising into her throat, intent on explaining herself, but Xavier started speaking first.

"Holy hell, Bree," he practically gasped. "Holy _hell_! That's _awesome_!"

She snapped her hands down into her lap and stared at him wide-eyed. He was grinning like he'd just won the lottery. "Wh-what?" she squeaked.

He cupped her face with his hands, giving her a slight shake. "Aubrey, that's awesome! I could tell there was something going on between the three of you the second I saw you all standing in the same space. I _know_ you, Bree, and I could see just how much you care about them, and they you. And honestly, two sisters-in-law are _way_ better than one."

"Xavier!" Aubrey chided. Her hands flew up to grip his wrists, his hold on her pretty much the only thing grounding her at the moment. "You... really?"

"Are you kidding? As selfish as it is, I've never exactly wanted another man in your life-"

"No! I mean - god - I mean you really don't think it's... weird?"

He frowned and smiled at the same time in bemusement. "That you're dating two people? Aubrey, I don't care who you're with as long as they make you happy. So there's my next question." Everything about him - posture, expression, the glint to his pale blue eyes - turned extraordinarily serious. "Do Chloe and Beca make you happy, Bree?"

"Yes," Aubrey answered immediately, a bit breathily. "I didn't even know I could ever be as happy as I am now, Xavier."

He grinned a grin to rival Chloe's. "That's great, Bree. _I'm_ happy _you're_ that happy."

"But how am I supposed to tell mom and dad?" she half-whined. Reality had always been quick to settle back down on her, and there was no way her mind was going to let her forget that telling her brother was just the first step. "There's no way they're going to approve, they think both of them are somehow _failures_ just because they know so little about them-"

"Then invite Beca and Chloe to spend some time with them," Xavier interrupted. "There _has_ to be a reason you like them so much, and if mom and dad meet them, then they'll be able to see it as well. Mom and dad aren't perfect, Bree, but they're not about to disown you or anything just because you're dating women."

"Two women at the same time."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with challenging their perceptions of the world."

"I don't want to lose my parents over this, and I sure as hell don't want to lose Chloe and Beca," Aubrey snapped. "What if something goes wrong?"

Xavier shrugged, releasing her face. "They'll come around. They came around to me, so they can do the same with you, if this is something that really rocks the boat. Just _try_ , Aubrey. There's no harm in that. Even if it creates a rift, it won't be a permanent one. That much I can tell you with absolute certainty." Aubrey scowled and nearly pouted; he smiled at her affectionately and pulled her against his side in a one-armed hug. "Just start with asking Chloe and Beca if they want to meet our parents and go from there."

Snuggling more comfortably against his side, Aubrey fought off the torrent of childhood memories threatening to distract her. She let a few moments go by in silence while she thought. Xavier was right, there was no harm in trying. Even if she got Beca and Chloe to spend time with her parents that didn't mean she had to tell them at the same time. She could wait just a bit longer, but with the knowledge that she was _trying_ , and that she wasn't actually keeping Chloe and Beca a secret or anything. It was still a good step that she'd told _someone_ \- especially since she was also so hesitant to let the rest of the Bellas know. She knew that, while they both tried to mostly just joke about it, Chloe and Beca were probably a little hurt about her decisions to keep their relationship away from people they cared about outside of their families, and her slight resistance to tell her _own_ family was definitely a jab at both of them. Aubrey didn't want that. It may take her longer to tell the Bellas, but she needed to tell her parents as well. It was the only way she was going to feel _better_ \- regardless of how it went.

"Why did they suddenly come around to you?" Aubrey asked her brother, breaking the silence around them; a few birds were chirping, but it was early and therefore there was no one else in the park.

"I don't know," Xavier sighed. "They called me out of the blue and said they didn't want to be estranged any longer, that they were stupid to have drifted away in the first place."

Aubrey smiled. "I don't see dad _or_ mom saying the word 'stupid'."

"You're right, it was probably 'obtuse' or something like that," Xavier chuckled. He quickly grew serious again. "I could tell, even over the phone, that - either way - they felt foolish for the way they treated me just because I followed a different career choice than the one they'd intended for me. On that same thread, they might not like the Mohawk _yet_ , but they're not about to stop me from expressing myself."

"What do you think got them to change so drastically?" Aubrey remembered the fights her parents would have with her brother; their mother would shout while their father remained a bit more calm, but disappointment was always harder to deal with than anger. Aubrey still regretted not being there more for Xavier when he was _always_ there for her, being the first to know when something was going on just because he _knew_. He knew _her_.

Xavier shrugged with the shoulder Aubrey wasn't resting on. "I don't know. They just did." For a few good moments he was silent, seemingly thinking it over. He shook his head. "I don't know," he repeated quietly. "But whatever it is, I think it means they aren't going to want to lose you, either, even if you tell them something they aren't ready to hear." Pulling his arm away, he got to his feet and helped Aubrey up to hers. She winced a tiny bit putting weight on her leg, but it wasn't anything serious and after taking a few more steps she was walking just fine. Xavier linked his arm with hers and they started back in the direction of the house. She glanced up at him; his face was blank, but there was a sheen of tears over his eyes. She gave his toned arm a squeeze. She'd seen that very little hurt more than a parent's rejection, and she was happy for her brother, that he could finally feel accepted by their mother and father.

* * *

They were sitting out on the back deck when Chloe and Beca joined them. Beca looked groggy and her hands trembled a bit; Aubrey assumed it was those "withdrawal" symptoms and she felt a brief guilt that she powered through, because she didn't want to think about supernatural things right now. Chloe wore a slightly overwhelmed expression that she hid well the second she saw Xavier sitting next to his sister and offered him a beaming smile.

"Hi!" she greeted him cheerily. "Have the two of you been spending the morning together?" she asked; Aubrey had only texted her and Beca imploring that they come out back.

Xavier nodded and got up to shake her hand, then Beca's as well. "Yeah, and it's nice to see you two again. Aubrey told me more about you guys on our run just now," he said, and sat back down. Beca and Chloe exchanged a brief glance - a mere flick of the eyes in each others' direction - and he smirked. "Let me just say that, based on first impressions alone, Bree quite possibly couldn't have found any better girlfriends."

Beca made a sound like she was choking on her own spit and coughed into the crook of her elbow, whereas Chloe seemed to be struggling between deciding whether or not she wanted to grin or just stare wide-eyed. Eventually she just let out a nervous giggle, and the both of them looked to Aubrey.

"Are you that surprised I told him?" Aubrey asked, genuinely curious.

"A little," Beca practically croaked.

Chloe shot her a look. "We just thought you'd take a bit more time with it, is all," she said, and the brunette nodded rapidly in agreement.

Aubrey pursed her lips and sighed. Part of her didn't even really want to have this conversation, not the _second_ she'd laid eyes on the two of them just now. Beca was wearing a pair of boxer shorts Aubrey assumed she'd slept in, as well as a dark gray and black hoodie with the hood over her head to help protect her from the sun a little. Chloe was in her typical pajamas - fuzzy pants and a tank top - and her hair was up. They were both just too adorable to handle, and all Aubrey wanted to do was snuggle up with them on the couch or something.

"You, uh," Beca began, but she had to clear her throat and start over. "You said you wanted to talk to us, and it sounded kinda serious... is this it?"

"Yes and no," Aubrey said. "Of course I want you to maybe get to know my brother a bit more, at least as much as you want to, but I was also going to ask if you two would like to get to know my _parents_ a bit more."

Her words were met with silence, and Chloe very visibly blanched. Beca, on the other hand, simply frowned in curiosity. "Really?" she said.

Aubrey nodded, glancing between them. "After talking to Xavier about it, I think it would help if they know the two of you more than they do now, so that maybe it'll soften the blow a little when I tell them we're together."

"You _want_ to tell them that?" Chloe repeated. Her voice held a tremor of awe.

"Chloe, I don't want you to be a secret," Aubrey said sternly. She looked to Beca, meeting steel blue eyes, and added, "I don't want _either_ of you to be a secret. I know this is going to be a hard pill for them to swallow, but they're going to have to deal with that. Both of your families know. I want mine to as well, and I'm pretty much halfway there anyway." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Xavier smile, eyes moving to each of them in turn.

Chloe smiled back, and her bright blue eyes became practically radiant - literally, and in a way that would have given Aubrey a bit of pause months prior to now. "I'd be happy to spend some time with your parents, Bree," the redhead half-purred.

"Yeah, me too," Beca agreed, though she was still frowning. There was a silent question in her eyes now - had Aubrey told Xavier anything else? Aubrey shook her head as imperceptibly as possible, and all the brunette's tension seemed to leave her. She smirked, briefly flashing her super white teeth.

"Alright," Aubrey huffed, lightly clapping her hands. "I guess I'll give them a call."

* * *

She had suggested they get together at the Bellas house, mostly after running into Amy and hearing that she and the rest of the Bellas planned on hanging out at the lake for awhile before going to the Treble house in the evening. The timing was too perfect for Aubrey to get irritated about any of them hanging out with Treblemakers (Jesse and Benji were okay, but as far as she was concerned, just about the rest of them were beyond _annoying_ ). She, Chloe and Beca had spent the past few hours after lunch getting ready and making sure the house looked nice, even if it had yet to look very lived in yet (they were still making quick progress with _that_ , considering there was nine of them). Xavier had left them to it, and now, ten minutes from five o'clock, Aubrey got a text from him saying he and their parents were a few minutes away.

She'd been fighting off nausea all day.

"Are you sure we shouldn't, like, put out something to snack on?" Chloe asked. She was an endless fountain of energy, especially when she was nervous, and she'd been bouncing around the house all day. Now she was still bouncing, just in one place. Beca was sitting on the couch in the living room; Aubrey could tell she'd put in a lot of effort to look less like a "hoodlum", even if the short sleeve blouse she was wearing just showed off quite a bit more of her extraordinarily pale skin. Aubrey knew her mother, and her mother was absolutely going to notice and comment on it. "You've hardly had anything to eat all day, and I know you're probably worried about throwing up, but it might just be, like, you know - comfortable," Chloe added, speaking almost as fast as she was moving.

"It's fine, Chlo," Aubrey said. In her nervousness she was standing right by the door. "And will you please just... stay still until they get here? You only have a few more minutes to go, and then the hard part will be over with."

"You mean introducing ourselves to them again?" Beca spoke up from the couch. Her hands were shaking like they had been this morning, except now it was for a completely different reason. Shaking her head, she scoffed. "Sure, whatever you say. Letting them into the house and saying 'hi' is totally harder than maintaining a conversation and not doing anything that might make them hate us."

Chloe shot her an appalled look that was mostly fear, but before she could say a word the doorbell rang. Aubrey turned to the door, pulse pounding in her ears, and opened it.

"Hello, honey," her mother said. She was holding her husband's hand, something that surprised Aubrey and gave her the slightest bit of pause. Behind them, Xavier was on his phone, but he quickly pocketed it and looked up in time to meet Aubrey's gaze. He winked.

"Hey - come in," Aubrey said, stepping to the side. She felt like she was about to start hyperventilating, and she was glad that when she looked back to Chloe the redhead had stopped moving, although her body seemed to be trembling ever so slightly. Aubrey offered her what she hoped was a reassuring smile and shut the door behind her brother.

"Chloe, right?" her father said, extending a hand.

"Yes, sir," Chloe said as she shook it.

Mr. Posen turned a bit more towards the living room; Beca was standing, hands in her back jean pockets, and she smiled at him politely. He returned it. "Which makes you Beca," he said, and they shook hands as well. Mrs. Posen did the same with both of them.

They went into the living room; Aubrey's parents sat on a smaller couch placed under the window, and Aubrey sat on the bigger one placed next to it in an L shape with Chloe, Beca, and Xavier. Her mind whirled with possible conversation starters but her mouth didn't seem to want to actually form any words.

"Aubrey told us about your parents," Mrs. Posen said, breaking the short silence on her own. She frowned apologetically at Beca. "We're sorry, dear."

"Oh?" Beca stammered. Her eyes narrowed for the briefest of seconds before snapping back open in recognition. "I mean - thank you. It's... it's okay," she corrected herself. In the time they'd had before this, Aubrey had told her and Chloe what she'd told her parents about them. Again she felt some guilt for basically lying, but she really wasn't about to ask Chloe and Beca to tell her parents their biggest secrets.

"Your aunt, she works in local government?" Mrs. Posen asked.

Beca nodded. "Yeah, she's a... a mayor," she said, her tone of voice making it sound ever so slightly like a question.

Mr. Posen smirked and chuckled, crossing one leg casually over the other. "As a lawyer, I can tell you, sometimes politicians are the bane of every man's existence."

Beca cocked her head to the side, and Aubrey wondered - for about a millisecond - how much she really knew about U.S. politics. She didn't particularly strike the blonde as someone who read the news very often, at least. "I've definitely heard that one before," Beca said. "You'd be surprised how much flak she gets from lawyers or businessmen. Or maybe not. You don't seem like the type of man who would readily lie down during a fight."

It was honestly the first time her age was surprisingly obvious in the tone of her voice, and Aubrey gave her a swift look. Chloe seemed to notice it as well; her brows furrowed and she suddenly looked more weary than anything.

Aubrey's father looked surprised, too. Then he chuckled again. "You're right about that."

"So what are the two of you studying?" her mother asked, leaning forward a bit.

"Well, my passions are in music, but I wouldn't say I have a full plan _quite_ yet," Beca replied, expression turning awkward for about a second.

"I'm interested in becoming a teacher," Chloe said softly. Her hands fidgeted just barely in her lap, and one of her legs twitched. "Preferably in elementary school. I like kids, and I know how important education is."

Mrs. Posen smiled. "That's lovely. And I agree completely - there are so many opportunities here, but not everyone recognizes that. You seem, to me, to be the type of person who could really reach young minds. I wish you luck in that, dear." She angled her attention back to Beca. "Music, hm? Anything other than a cappella?"

"I guess creating music in general," Beca said, shrugging. "Working at a record label seems really interesting to me."

Xavier grinned. "Just from looking at you, I'd say you'd make a good DJ."

"In this day and age, that does kinda seem like an actual career path," Beca chuckled - Aubrey just barely noticed her brother _and_ their parents stir a tiny bit at the sound, and she was abruptly reminded of a vampire's compulsion power. They seemed to just have that _effect_ without using the actual power, but Aubrey supposed maybe she was desensitized to it by this point. "I don't know about how great it'd really be long-term, though," the brunette added.

"Either of you interested in sports?" Mr. Posen asked, and he both sounded and looked a bit awkward now himself. Despite being the stern father, Aubrey always knew how nervous he could get. But it seemed to get Beca and Chloe to relax.

Mrs. Posen laughed lightly, a sign of support for her husband. "You certainly don't look like you get outside much, dear," she said, directing the statement to Beca.

"Mostly 'cause I can't," Beca said, then flushed, but it was hardly noticeable. "Be outside much, I mean. It's some minor skin condition. Also I'm prone to get heatstroke." She turned to Chloe, and the redhead smiled a little. Perhaps she wanted to get the spotlight off herself some, and for that Aubrey couldn't blame her in the slightest. She knew exactly how that felt. "Chloe here gets out a lot, probably more than Aubrey and I combined."

"I was into track in high school," Xavier said, glancing around Aubrey to look at Chloe. "Do they have that here at Barden?"

"Probably," Chloe said with half a shrug. "I don't know if I'd actually be interested in that, though. I don't run super often at all, and being a Bella takes up more than enough of my time outside of classes." She grinned.

"How many girls are in that again?" Mrs. Posen asked.

"Nine, including us," Aubrey replied. "There will be tryouts at the beginning of the school year, though, so we might get one or two more. I hope so, anyway."

Her mother glanced at her with a smile, and the glint in her eyes was a bit like last night, however briefly. Aubrey was pretty sure she had a feeling _something_ was going on, but hadn't quite put together all the pieces. Then again, it was only a matter of time until she did. Xavier got his ardent intuition from her, which was part of the reason he knew his sister so well. If Aubrey didn't tell her or her father what she wanted to tell them, her mother would figure it out on her own eventually - Aubrey didn't want that, though. She wanted to say it out loud.

"Aubrey told us you really helped all of you win finals this year," her father said, directing the statement to Beca with a kind smile. Aubrey flushed a little; it wasn't like she'd never expressed her gratitude to Beca for saving their asses, but she still had her pride and she knew there was no way the brunette would ever let her hear the end of this.

Therefore she wasn't surprised to see Beca smirk smugly for a second out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah, I mean, it wasn't _just_ me, though. I just encouraged Aubrey," she said.

"And you're going to try to get into the Worlds competition this year?" Xavier prompted.

"That's up to Aubrey, really."

"I think we could do it," Chloe said, nodding sharply as if to reaffirm the statement to herself. She grinned. "Who knows, we could be the first American team to win in a _long_ time."

"Americans aren't so popular outside of the country, eh?" Mr. Posen chuckled.

"I suppose... but there's also just a lot of talent in other countries that Americans seem to have a hard time recognizing," Chloe said. "Earlier this summer we came across this German a cappella group performing outside, and they were so good it was honestly intimidating."

"Do you think they might be in Worlds?" Xavier asked.

Chloe shrugged. "They basically told us as much. But one of them is a friend of Beca's, so any rivalry we might have with them will be mostly playful."

Mrs. Posen looked a bit impressed, and Aubrey felt like she could breathe a sigh of relief - this was actually going quite well. "Have you ever been to Germany, Beca?" her mother asked.

"Germany? No. I met this friend of mine when she was studying abroad her junior year and came to the high school I went to when I was a sophomore. But I've been to France, Ireland, Romania, Canada and Sweden, to name a few." Beca absentmindedly brushed a bit of invisible dirt off her knee; Aubrey exchanged a swift glance with Chloe and knew the redhead was similarly a bit surprised by how in-depth Beca made the fabricated version of her first time meeting the Kommissar, not to even mention all the places around the world she's apparently been. "I've also been to the majority of states here," the brunette added as an after-thought.

"You're awfully well-traveled," Mrs. Posen said, and this time Aubrey could tell she was _definitely_ impressed, and she took that as a win. Her mother was actually warming up to Beca.

"My aunt liked to travel a lot before she first ran for mayor, so when I was younger she took me pretty much anywhere I wanted over summers," Beca said. "Do you all like to travel? I know, Xavier, you're an investigative journalist, so I bet you get all over the place."

"Oh absolutely. Just recently, at the beginning of the summer, I was in Romania for this story about a string of unexplained deaths," Xavier said, briefly quirking an eyebrow at Aubrey, but she hardly noticed. She was more interested in Beca's reaction to hearing that; about as much as she expected, the brunette frowned, but she also looked just a touch more paler than usual. Her eyes also took on a tired sort of resignation. "Aubrey said the three of you were actually there at pretty much the exact same time, and that you all got to stay in these castles I got to look at from afar," Xavier added, and Aubrey whirled on him, teeth clenched and a reprimand ready on her lips - she caught Beca's eyebrows shooting up to her hairline as soon as the words left Xavier's mouth.

"Aubrey! You went to Romania? Why didn't you tell us?" her father asked before she could so much as wrench her mouth open to let out a budding torrent of word vomit. Instead she forced herself to stop and take in the somewhat concerned frowns her parents wore.

She let out a short sigh. "I... I don't know. I was afraid you wouldn't let me go, and it was a really spur of the moment thing. Beca's aunt has a friend who works for the company that owns the castles Xavier was talking about, so we got to stay in one of them."

Her father's eyes narrowed; he was a lawyer, of course he knew when she was outright lying, even if she was pretty confident in her abilities to evade that. She was _becoming_ a lawyer, after all. But she wouldn't be surprised if the culmination of nerves was making her transparent. She didn't know what else to say, though, because the _actual_ reason they went to Romania was questionable on multiple accounts.

"Well, did you have a good time? At least you're all safe, seeing as how there was a murderer running around," Mrs. Posen said crisply. She was clearly unhappy, but it was such a small thing compared to what all else Aubrey was planning on telling her. That just brought on a fresh wave of nausea, and the blonde clenched her teeth to swallow down bile before speaking.

"It wasn't quite what we were hoping it to be, but we had a good time," she said. She was pretty sure both Beca and Chloe glanced away or averted their gazes from her parents, and again, she didn't blame them whatsoever.

Her father looked like he was about to say something as well, but a vibrating sound pulled his attention elsewhere; he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it briefly, but whatever it was made him frown, then sigh. "My old friend from law school said something came up, and the only time he's going to be able to meet with us is this evening," he said, angling himself towards his wife. He glanced up, met Aubrey's gaze, and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, hun, it looks like we might have to cut this short - if that's alright with you. I just haven't seen this friend of mine in such a long time..."

Aubrey shook her head, gently cutting him off. "No, it's alright. You'll still be here for a few more days, we can talk more later." She got up to hug her parents first, then Xavier, while Beca and Chloe shook hands with her father again and her mother pulled the two of them into hugs, which surprised her as much as it seemed to surprise them.

"I think it went pretty well," Xavier whispered, so only she could hear (though she wouldn't doubt it if Chloe and Beca heard as well).

"Me too," she murmured back. She led the three of them all the way out to the car; once they drove away, after promising to spend more time together and finish up this conversation they'd started, Aubrey nearly doubled over with the force of a relieved sigh that shook through her. She went up the front walk to the door, legs feeling a bit like jelly. Beca and Chloe were waiting for her, wearing matching expressions of anxiety.

"Well...?" Chloe said.

Aubrey felt a smile erupt on her face roughly the same time tears emerged in her eyes. Without a word she stepped forward and pulled them both to her in a close embrace.

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry this is so long lol. I just wanted to fit all of this in one chapter, although this isn't the last time we'll be seeing Aubrey's family.  
_

 _I hope the conversations featuring her parents weren't awkward... I kind of struggled with them, and also with figuring out how to actually end this chapter before it went on way too long, so sorry if it seems stilted or anything..._

 _Please keep reviewing, favoriting, and following for more!_


	28. Chapter XXVIII

**\+ XXVIII +**

The night was cool, and they had the window open to let in the breeze; Chloe could smell hints of rain on the way. She was listening very intently on everything she could hear outside the bedroom door, waiting for Beca.

She realized she shouldn't be too surprised about how softly vampires moved, because it was quite ridiculous how often she didn't always hear Beca approaching unless she really _listened for her_. Paying such close attention now, she heard impossibly light footfall nearing the door, and she got up swiftly to open it before Beca got the chance to knock. The brunette smirked up at her and slipped inside the room. Tonight she didn't exactly have to sneak around (she hadn't very much yet, even with those feelings of withdrawal she was starting to have) since the rest of the Bellas were all still at the Treblemakers' house. Chloe could hear hints of whatever loud music they were playing coming in on the breeze, but otherwise she tuned them out. She and Beca stood near the door and looked in Aubrey's direction. The blonde was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, with her hands clasped together atop her stomach. She'd been pretty silent ever since her parents and older brother had left. At first that was because she was just lightly and quietly crying to herself, and had asked to be left alone for a little while. Now Chloe simply figured she was deep in thought.

She and Beca moved simultaneously to lie down on either side of her. A few moments went by in silence, aside from two out of three of them breathing, but eventually Chloe couldn't quite take it anymore.

"So you think it went okay?" she whispered into the quiet.

She turned her head in time to see Aubrey smile, a tiny little quirk of the lips, really, before it vanished. "Yes," Aubrey breathed. She, too, sounded like she didn't want to disturb the serenity of the room and the air. "I think my mother was really starting to like both of you, which is good, considering her previous views were a bit unsavory... but she's like that with everyone before she meets them. All she had to go off us was what I'd told her about you, Chlo, and since I haven't been talking to her or my daddy recently, I haven't said much about Beca..."

"No offense taken, if that's what you're pausing for," Beca mumbled.

A beat passed.

Chloe took a deep breath. "Aubrey, I want you to know that I'm very proud of you for wanting to do this, and I think you're so brave," she said.

Aubrey turned her head to look at her, frowning slightly. "It's... I just don't want to keep either of you a secret," she sighed, a reiteration of what she'd said that morning. She shifted her hands so she could take Chloe's and Beca's instead. Her eyes turned back to the ceiling, her chest expanding outward with a quiet deep breath of her own. On the other side of her Chloe met Beca's steel blue gaze; she was watching Aubrey as well. "I know we should also tell the rest of the Bellas about us, but... it might have to wait just a little while more, after I've told my parents and have the chance to breathe for a second afterward," the blonde whispered.

"That's completely understandable," Beca said, her voice a bit deeper than usual. Chloe took a shot in the dark and guessed it had something to do with their proximity; any feeling she had while being so close to the two of them was exemplified ten times over, in part due to the fact that she felt what _they_ felt, and she knew - for Beca - it had to all just be really intense.

"Yeah, we get why you would want to take a moment after that," Chloe added in agreement. "Especially since there isn't much telling how your parents are going to respond."

The corners of Aubrey's lips twitched like she was going to smile, but she didn't, and her already relatively red and puffy eyes glistened with a new sheen of tears. "At least my brother was supportive," she said on a shaky exhale. "I was... honestly surprised he is as okay with it as he is. It probably has something to do with how our parents ostracized him for so long. Even if he _does_ have some reservations about it, I'm sure he doesn't want to say anything, since I remained there for him during that time..."

"Aubrey," Chloe interrupted sternly, but affectionately, "you don't have to rationalize _everything_ going around your head right now. You won't be able to get any sleep."

Beca smirked, and her teeth glinted in the dim lighting - all they had were a few candles placed around sporadically. "There are better ways to keep you up all night," she purred, again with that deep voice that just _did_ something to Chloe (and, unsurprisingly, Aubrey as well). Then she blinked and groaned as her face contorted; turning her head away, she pressed her free hand over her eyes. "Shit, sorry. That's going _way_ too fast."

"It's alright, Becs," Chloe giggled. Aubrey offered a more or less weak smile.

Chloe was still getting _used_ to the whole "feeling other people's feelings pretty much exactly how they felt them" aspect of being in such a serious relationship, at least in terms of her werewolf side. All day she'd felt Aubrey's horrible nausea, and she now had an unfortunately intimate understanding of how the blonde could throw up so easily. At one point she'd almost brought up _the incident_ from last year's finals just to say that she was sorry for ever getting upset or blaming Aubrey for their loss because of that. Then there was Beca, who Chloe was coming to understand put on the cool act to disguise how much of the time she was actually freaking out on the inside. She was impressed, though, with the brunette's _actual_ calm, cool responses and outward appearance while they talked to Aubrey's parents. The only way Chloe could have described Aubrey's feelings at the same time were to say they were the static that came from the TV when it was on the wrong input. She'd hardly paid much attention to her own feelings; it was difficult to do so when she felt she was practically sharing her body with two other people, which - to be fair - _was_ what her mama had warned her it'd be like.

She realized she was spacing out and reengaged herself, and a thought suddenly came to her. "Hey, can... can I maybe... be in the middle this time?" she said quietly, smiling at Beca and Aubrey sheepishly as they both looked to her. Aubrey returned the smile and started shifting; they changed places so the blonde was against the wall and Chloe was contentedly pressed between her and Beca. She sighed happily. "This is really nice. Bree, I totally get why you like this spot so much." She shot Aubrey a grin.

Scoffing, Aubrey looked away, looking like she was trying to fight off a grin. "I'm only in the middle so much because we're always in _my_ bed," she snapped playfully.

"Tell me again _why_ you guys just didn't get a new one for all of us?" Beca drawled.

"Because I really don't need the Bellas going wild with scandalous rumors."

"Geez, Bree, have an _ounce_ of confidence in them," Chloe half-gasped, feigning offense. Aubrey just smacked her on the arm. "Ow!"

"Oh, please. You can't tell me that actually _hurt_."

"It did." Chloe slipped her hand out of Beca's to tap over her heart. "Right here."

Beca laughed - really she was giggling like a child - and Aubrey gave the redhead an unimpressed look. "You poor baby," she breathed, rolling onto her side and placing her free hand on Chloe's chest, stroking a finger over the dip between her collar bones. Her pale green eyes had never been brighter, and Chloe's suddenly malfunctioning brain noticed a hint of hazel to them. "Do you need a kiss to make it better?"

Chloe swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, and Beca certainly wasn't laughing now. The brunette's quick spike in desire mixed so well with Chloe's that she couldn't even tell where her own ended and Beca's began. In the meantime Aubrey just _stared_ at her, those intense eyes darting past Chloe to Beca and back again every few seconds. Chloe managed a mute, simple nod, and Aubrey smiled. It was an innocent look that instantly lit the redhead's body on fire - beside her she could feel Beca shivering. Aubrey propped herself up on an elbow and leaned down to press a feather-light kiss to Chloe's chest where she'd tapped it, perhaps an inch below her collarbone. Then she settled back down, much closer now. Chloe was momentarily confused by the nervousness she was feeling before realizing it was _Aubrey's_ nervousness, and that the blonde was trembling.

Outside she could hear the first drops of rain falling.

"Can I be in the middle now?" Beca asked in a whisper, and Chloe and Aubrey laughed. "Hey! It's a legitimate question!" she cried. Chloe continued to giggle as she shifted and switched places with the brunette; she huffed in further irritation, body wriggling as she settled comfortably between Chloe and Aubrey. She pouted. "We're gonna have to come up with a schedule or something..."

"If you suggest setting an alarm to go off during the night, I'll pick you up and toss you over the side of the bed," Chloe giggled.

Beca narrowed her eyes at her and smirked. "You're not _that_ strong, Chlo."

"You weigh, like, one-hundred and eighty pounds, Becs."

"Sure, but it's _dead_ weight."

"Oh, god," Aubrey laughed, but she sounded slightly panicked. "Please don't say that."

The two of them faltered in their banter for a second. Chloe was determined not to make it show, regardless. Besides, she had a question on her mind. "What would you guys call me?" she asked bluntly, without really thinking it through first.

"What do you mean?" Aubrey asked.

"Like, would you call me and Beca your girlfriends? And Beca, would you say the same about me and Aubrey?"

Beca's brows furrowed. "I mean, _yeah_ , but - at the same time - vampires don't exactly have... well we don't _date_ , because we know the right mate when we find them and don't really waste a ton of time with getting to know each other or anything that humans do. But I'm ready to disregard all of that for the two of you."

Aubrey looked hesitant, and her lower lip quivered; Chloe wondered if she'd gone too far, but then the blonde let out a sharp sigh through her nose. "Of course I would call you and Beca my girlfriends," she said softly.

Chloe grinned. "I'm really happy to hear that, 'cause I would say the same."

"So do werewolves date?" Beca asked.

"When we think our mate is a human, yes. Just because we consider human traditions - but we've also sort of adapted that custom a bit ourselves. Before we were a lot like vampires in the sense that we don't beat around the bush. That was also before more of us started to marry outside of our packs, and not just in terms of _other_ packs," Chloe explained. She smiled and winked. "Also, if you have a question, sometimes you can answer it yourself just by thinking about what wolves would do," she joked.

Beca practically snickered. "I'll keep that in mind."

Aubrey was silent, and honestly, if Chloe had a dollar for every time the blonde's pale green eyes just went _so intense_... After a few moments wherein Aubrey still didn't say anything, Chloe propped herself up on her elbow and asked, "When are we going to see your parents and or your brother again?"

"I don't know," Aubrey half-sighed. "I'm having a bit of trouble thinking about it right now. They leave in a few days, so it might have to be tomorrow or the next day."

Beca smirked nervously. "No pressure."

"I know that's a rhetorical thing, but there is actually quite a bit of pressure, Beca."

"With that attitude, yeah. Aubrey, you think about things too much. Just say it in the moment that it feels _best_ to say it, when you just really _want_ to say it. Even if you kinda just blurt it out, it'll make you feel better than building up to it by being like 'I have to tell you guys something serious' and then your parents will be dreading the worst, probably-"

"I agree," Chloe interrupted, seeing the paleness to Aubrey's blank expression while Beca rambled on. "It might be all the more surprising to potentially blurt it out, but Beca does have a point about how serious 'I have something to tell you' sounds."

Aubrey released a breath, sounding a little irritated. "Neither of you really know my parents at _all_ ," she half-snapped. "Trust me when I say they would respond better to something that sounded serious as opposed to me blurting out that I'm dating two women. They're very rational people, in case you're wondering where I get it from. I can guarantee you that they will come to their own, most logical conclusions if I sit them down and say I have something to talk to them about. Although I don't know if they'll get to anything close to the truth, they-"

"Hey, Bree, it's okay," Beca interjected softly. "Don't freak yourself out a ton."

"Well, I'm sorry, Beca, but humans are not as easy as vampires," Aubrey snapped, and a few tears sparked up in her eyes. "Not everybody is as perfectly fine with whoever I want to be with as Nadine and Chloe's family are with you two."

"But that's seriously _okay_ ," Beca insisted; she rolled onto her side to face the blonde and Chloe leaned over her a little bit, so that while she was also resting her chin on the brunette's shoulder she could stroke Aubrey's hair out of her face as well. Beca wiped away a tear or two with her thumb. "Chloe and I are here for you every step of the way, okay? You don't _have_ to be scared, but when you are, we're _right here_."

"That's right," Chloe murmured. "Anything you need, Bree, we're happy to help."

Aubrey looked back and forth between them; an emotion Chloe couldn't quite identify surged through her eyes, then she shifted forward into Beca's arms.

Chloe stared down at both of them, still leaning across Beca, and she felt a foreign feeling. She couldn't tell if it was her own, Beca's, or Aubrey's, but either way it was just about the most confusing thing she had ever felt before in her life. It practically winded her a little and she almost squirmed, but she didn't want to disrupt her girlfriends - that felt nice, though, to think and to say, and she was going to capitalize on that as soon as possible.

Outside the rain was starting to fall a bit harder, halfway to pouring. All the smells were lulling Chloe into the calmest state she'd been in for who knew how long, to be honest. She was just happy to spending the moment with Aubrey and Beca. Lightning lit up the room, harsher than the candles, and thunder followed it after Chloe counted to five Mississippi.

They were warm in bed and they had each other. That was all she needed right now.

* * *

On the day Aubrey's parents and brother were going to leave, Aubrey announced that her parents had invited Chloe and Beca to join them for lunch before they said goodbye. Chloe had been spending most of the two days prior preoccupied with Bellas things - there was the activities fair booth to plan, since they would be doing that again this year, and some other things to talk about with some of the other a cappella groups, like the tryouts song. Aubrey was too stressed about how to pretty much come out to her parents to deal with any of it, so Chloe happily stepped up as co-captain. That, and it was proving to be quite interesting to live with the rest of the Bellas. She was ecstatic that they were all getting to know each other better, and there were very few hiccups, but she could tell there was a tension in the house.

Most, if not all of that, had to do with Aubrey.

She'd sort of reverted back to how she'd been at the beginning of last year - testy, controlling, and every time any of the other Bellas tried to talk to her she'd give them the biggest fake smile Chloe had ever seen. It worried her (and Beca as well, though the brunette kept her distance and offered reassurances to the others that Aubrey was just having a tough week), especially since Aubrey didn't seem to want to talk about the situation with her parents any more than they already had. So she'd mostly just been doing a lot of stress-cleaning.

On the plus side, the house looked immaculate. On the down side, it was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that Aubrey's emotional and mental states were a mess.

"That's the fourth time she's cleaned the kitchen counters _this morning_ ," Stacie whispered, leaning close to Chloe; pretty much all of them were hovering relatively out of Aubrey's sight and watching her concernedly. "As weird as it is to say out loud, I don't think I've ever seen her this stressed before."

"Girl needs a good lay," Cynthia-Rose said, nodding sagely.

Chloe shot her a scowl, arms crossed. "She does not - Aubrey's fine, you guys. Her parents are just in town and it's really put her on edge."

"Yeah, have some sympathy," Beca growled lightly.

Lily said something no one could hear, but without tuning her ears Chloe was pretty sure it was along the lines of being cleansed by fire. Which was mostly just concerning, and Chloe almost muttered "but Aubrey's not a witch..." in confusion before catching herself.

"Are her parents really _that_ strict?" Stacie huffed. " _I_ had a strict dad, but that didn't affect me in any way."

Amy made a face. "Eh, you sure about that...?"

"It's not that they're strict, they just have some pretty high expectations," Chloe said, watching as Aubrey moved from the counters to the floor. She checked the time on the microwave clock; they were going to lunch with the blonde's family in a half hour. She and Beca were ready, but Aubrey had been cleaning all day... and she did _not_ like to be late. Gesturing for the others to take a few steps back (so hopefully Aubrey wouldn't notice them), she crossed the kitchen to where Aubrey was on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor by the fridge. "Hey, Bree?" she said tentatively. Aubrey didn't even look up. "We've got to leave in a half hour..."

That got her attention pretty quick; she turned over her shoulder, but hardly stopped in her ferocious scrubbing. "Okay?" she said. "I'll be ready by then. Just let me finish this."

"You and I both know that's a never-ending cycle you'll struggle to get out of," Chloe sighed, crouching down beside her. "Go upstairs, take a nice, hot shower, and just _breathe_. I'll drive us to the restaurant."

"Diner," Aubrey corrected. "They chose a diner. _My parents_ chose a _diner_." She broke off into a peal of nervous laughter; Chloe grimaced slightly in worry and got up just enough so that she could see over the counter at the spot where Beca and the others were watching. Beca shrugged helplessly and shook her head.

Chloe crouched back down, pursing her lips in thought. "Aubrey, Beca and I are worried about you," she said softly. "I know this is really hard for you, but-"

"No, Chloe, you _don't_ know," Aubrey interrupted, finally stopping. She sat back on her heels and threw her hands up in the air. "Your parents didn't even take into _consideration_ that you're with two women - the biggest thing they had to get over was the werewolf and vampire relationship, and they did it in a heartbeat! And I don't even think Nadine batted an eye at it!"

"Aubrey, you can't compare your parents to mine or Beca's," Chloe sighed. "I'm sure you liking girls isn't going to be a big deal to them. They're pretty progressive."

"I don't know if they're _this_ progressive," Aubrey snarled. She tucked some stray strands of hair behind her ear (most of it was loosely pulled back) and returned to her cleaning. "I'm going to finish this, and then I'll get ready and we'll go to lunch. We won't be late. I'll be damned if we are. It's fine, Chloe. Just leave me alone."

Chloe winced internally; nodding, she stood and walked back over to the others. "Come on, guys, back it up," she huffed, herding everyone into the living room.

"What's got her so on edge?" Jessica asked kindly. "It can't _just_ be that her parents are visiting. Something's clearly weighing on her conscience."

"I don't know," Chloe lied.

"I wish we knew better how to get her to lose that stick up her ass," Amy said irritably, shaking her head and narrowing her eyes slightly. "We've all moved in on this bomb house, and yet I still don't feel like Aubrey's opened up to us that much..."

"That's true," Stacie agreed. "She continues to hold us at arm's length. Except for you, Chloe - and, now that I think of it, she's alarmingly chill with _Beca_ , too."

Chloe tried not to look at the brunette, and she was pretty sure Beca was avoiding glancing at her as well. "I can tell you all with absolute certainty that you all mean a lot to Aubrey. She just has a hard time expressing herself, because... she can be really uptight." She looked back in the direction of the kitchen. A heavy sigh escaped her before she could stop it. "I can also tell you guys that she _wants_ to be more than the hard-ass captain. Just give her a little bit more time, she has a lot to think about right now."

"You _just_ said you don't know if she's got anything big on her mind," Cynthia-Rose said.

"Well knowing Aubrey it's probably _something_ ," Chloe snapped, her slight impatience and overwhelming concern getting the better of her for a moment. She took a steadying breath, ignoring the looks she was receiving - none of the others had seen this side of her, really at all, and she didn't quite want to start right now. The next full moon was fast-approaching as it was. "Look, you guys should just give her some space right now. She doesn't even really want to talk to me. I think, though, that she'll start feeling better by tomorrow."

Cynthia-Rose shook her head, looking disappointed more than frustrated although both emotions were right there on her face. "Y'all just got too many secrets. The day Aubrey _really_ opens up to us is the same day pigs will fly." She stalked off towards the staircase. Hardly a minute passed and the rest of them started to exit the living room as well.

Amy and Stacie stopped in front of Chloe. "I still believe in her," Amy said, shrugging and gesturing towards the kitchen. "Help us out here, ginger. Tell us what you think would help her calm down, and we'll do it."

"She needs to let loose at least one more time before we go back to classes," Stacie said.

Chloe bit her lip. "Well... you guys _could_ try..."

* * *

They parallel parked in the downtown area and got out of the car to walk the rest of the way to the diner. Aubrey still looked like how she felt, which Chloe could acutely feel herself as if they were her own emotions; she actually sort of agreed with Stacie when the tall brunette said she'd never seen Aubrey this stressed. Now she just wondered if her parents would notice.

Inside the diner they spotted Xavier sitting at a booth and joined him, the three of them sliding into the seat opposite him with Aubrey in the middle (she and Beca had planned on it in hopes that she might feel calmer with both of them on either side of her).

Xavier beamed at them and set his menu down. "Hey! Oh, damn, Bree. You look like you're about to throw up..." he said, his excitement quickly replaced by concern.

Aubrey shook her head. "I'm fine. Where's-"

"They're not here yet, if you need to go splash cold water on your face."

"You're not really helping, Xavier."

They lapsed into a slightly tense silence; Chloe pretended to look at her own menu, but it was difficult. She didn't really enjoy feeling like her mind and body weren't _quite_ her own - for one thing - and, more importantly, she was anxious about how this might go in such a public place. Sure, she absolutely did not think Aubrey's parents would make a scene. That didn't mean the whole thing didn't have the potential to be super awkward. Chloe had a pretty good track record for making awkward situations _even worse_ , and for Aubrey's sake she really just didn't want to do that. She glanced in Beca's direction. The brunette wasn't looking at her menu whatsoever, she was just staring at her ice water as she stirred it with a straw.

Chloe heard the jingle of the bell over the door despite the loudness of the diner - it was a popular place, and most of the booths and tables were filled - and she glanced up, catching sight of Mr. and Mrs. Posen. They started right for the booth, probably recognizing Xavier's Mohawk right away. He slipped down his seat to allow room for them as they greeted Chloe first (since she was on the end), then their daughter, and lastly Beca and their son.

"This is such a quaint little place," Mrs. Posen said lightly, tapping her menu. "Have the four of you already ordered?"

"Nah, we were waiting for you guys," Xavier said.

"Aubrey," Mr. Posen murmured, leaning forward, "you look flushed. Are you alright?"

Chloe glanced at the blonde. She really did look flushed, but not in the way she usually was - it was a bit more of a sickly look, and she seemed sort of sweaty. Her hands shook quite noticeably and she set her menu down pointedly.

"I'm fine," she said. Her voice was awfully high-pitched.

"Honey, you look like you're about to be sick," her mother said very matter-of-factly. "If you're not feeling well, you probably shouldn't eat."

Aubrey shook her head. "I promise I'm fine. I actually haven't eaten at all today, so maybe that's it."

Her parents exchanged a glance, and in that moment Chloe knew they weren't just going to let it go, based simply on the shared look in their eyes. In the meantime Xavier sipped nonchalantly at his water like he didn't have a single care in the world. But not another word was said until after a waitress came to take their orders (Chloe was pretty sure she'd seen the woman around campus before), and then Mrs. Posen reached across the table to take her daughter's hands in her own. Her eyes had a no-bullshit look to them.

"Now, honey," she began, "your father and I have both noticed something is clearly on your mind, but you don't seem to want to tell us. What's going on?"

"Whatever it is, please don't be afraid to tell us," Mr. Posen added. His gaze flicked to Chloe for a brief instant. "We'll support you no matter what. I know we didn't exactly set the best example of that with how we reacted to Xavier telling us he wanted to be an investigative journalist, but we've learned from our mistakes. I promise we'll still be here for you, Aubrey."

A silence settled over the table - well, however much silence was possible in their environment. Chloe sort of just leaned back. So did Beca, and they glanced at each other. In an unspoken agreement they both placed a hand on one of Aubrey's thighs with the intent and hope of possibly grounding her with something tangible. She was holding onto her mother's hands and the two of them seemed to be having something like a staring contest; Aubrey abruptly paled a little bit more and she gagged, yanking a hand back to clamp it over her mouth as she gagged a second time.

"Goddammit, Bree, just go to the bathroom and get it over with!" Xavier half-laughed.

"Xavier!" Mrs. Posen scolded, shooting him a stern look. She released Aubrey's other hand and ushered her husband off the end seat. Chloe recognized her intentions and got up as well; with Beca's help they got Aubrey to her feet, and her mother guided her swiftly in the direction of the bathrooms.

Chloe sat back down and it took her a second to realize she and Beca were now alone with Mr. Posen. She looked to him, perhaps appearing more fearful than she should have because he chuckled. "You know, I really like you two," he said, pointing back and forth from her to Beca. "Aubrey seems to hold you in a special place in her heart. I know college friends are really important, and perhaps last the longest, so I'm glad she's found you young ladies."

Chloe felt an odd rush of amusement that she identified as Beca's. "Thank you," the brunette said, tone filled with sincerity. "That really means a lot to us, sir."

Mr. Posen smiled warmly. It thinned out and he was left looking a little dismayed. "So she's still holding things in, huh?" he said. Shaking his head, he glanced to his son. "She's been doing that since she was thirteen. All her stresses and anxieties just get to be too much, and - mixed in with whatever else she's bottled up - she always ends up losing it..."

"She didn't tell you about last year's finals, did she?" Chloe asked carefully, pursing her lips. Mr. Posen shook his head again so she explained, "After the first few words of her solo she threw up... a lot... all over the front two rows of the audience..."

Xavier hissed through his teeth. "Ooh, that's bad..."

"That's a really big part of why she didn't want to lose this year," Chloe sighed.

"Do you know of any way to kinda get her to _not_ bottle things in and let everything get to her so much?" Beca asked, leaning forward towards Mr. Posen.

"We tried anti-anxiety medication, but couldn't find the right kind to actually get it to work. Knowing her, she's tried a smorgasbord of other things, but I couldn't tell you whether or not she's found the right thing." Mr. Posen smiled again, this time sadly. "We don't talk as much as we used to. That's why we're here, to see if we can fix that relationship a little."

Chloe tried not to let her uncertainty show on her face, it was just hard since she was also feeling a tightness in her stomach that was definitely from Aubrey, and a dark fear from Beca that led her to believe she'd underestimated just how much the brunette wanted things to go well. They'd talked it over the night before, and they'd agreed that they would do pretty much whatever it took to get Aubrey's parents to not be idiots (to put it bluntly). Chloe wasn't sure how they would do that without just intimidating them, and she didn't want that.

Their food arrived first, but they only had to wait another minute or two before Aubrey and her mother returned. They sat back in their middle spots and everyone started eating a bit tentatively. For once Beca had ordered a normal sized dish and Chloe could see she was struggling with getting just a few bites down her throat.

"Aubrey, I'm going to ask you one more time," Mrs. Posen spoke up sternly, "before you have the chance to get too much food in your stomach. I know it'll make you feel better to just get whatever this is off your chest." She arched a perfect eyebrow and prompted, "Well?"

Shutting her eyes, Aubrey took in a deep breath. Chloe rested her hand on her thigh and everything else around them vanished for a moment. Then Aubrey opened her eyes, and with an expression of determination she said, "Chloe and Beca are my girlfriends."

Chloe tried to ignore - for the moment - the rush she felt at hearing Aubrey say that.

She looked to the blonde's parents. Both of them had expressions of pretty mild surprise, and she could see them glancing back and forth between herself and Beca. Both of them looked right back (although Chloe sort of wanted to look away, because of those damn Posen eyes and their intensity). The silence was almost painful and Chloe could tell Aubrey was starting to waver in her conviction, her throat bobbing like she was having trouble swallowing.

Finally, Mrs. Posen let out a short sigh. "Now, doesn't that feel better?" she drawled.

"Not really," Aubrey said, her voice tight. "Neither of you are saying anything..."

"Just give us a moment, hun," Mr. Posen half-huffed. "We're a little surprised, as I'm sure you can imagine." Again, he and his wife exchanged a look. Slow smiles emerged on both of their faces. "Aubrey, we want you to be and to do whatever makes you happiest," he said.

"I wish you'd only told us sooner," Mrs. Posen added. "We could have spent more time with these two young ladies, and _you_ could have avoided a lot of stomachache."

Aubrey looked like she was about to faint. She didn't say anything.

Mrs. Posen turned to Xavier. "Did you know about this?"

"Yeah, she told me the other morning during our run," Xavier said, mouth full of the pancake he'd ordered (at least he covered his mouth with his hand while speaking).

"Well, good," his mother said. She went back to her own food, as did her husband; Chloe watched Aubrey from the corner of her eye. It wasn't really like the blonde to say so little - not very much got her tongue-tied - and she could practically see the gears turning in her head. She was hesitant to let her guard down.

Eventually Aubrey just sighed and laughed lightly, all the tension vanishing from her shoulders. She picked up her fork with a shaky hand but didn't start eating. "Thank you," she whispered. Her eyes watered.

Her parents paused in their eating. "Honey, we just want to support you," Mrs. Posen said just as softly. "Have a little faith in us." She smiled wryly at Chloe, shifting it towards Beca next and laughing at the way Beca quirked an eyebrow at her. "The two of you have best tell me how you all got together. I'm a sucker for a good romance story." She winked, and her husband beside her chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

Chloe let out a brief laugh of relief. She could spin a good story, even if how they all really figured out their feelings for each other didn't exactly happen in a super conventional way. She figured she could just omit anything supernatural or relating to things particularly worrying, and she knew Beca and Aubrey would chime in. She could feel a surge of ecstatic happiness overtaking her; it was good to know that Aubrey wouldn't have much to worry about anymore, just in time for school to start back up again.

* * *

Getting out of the car, Chloe tuned her ears to the inside of the house. She could tell the others were all ready with the little surprise she'd suggested to them; she liked that they wanted to really push Aubrey into opening up, and in doing so show that they were willing to do the same. She nonchalantly led the way to the front door - Beca and Aubrey were busy arguing about a song they'd heard over the radio - and opened it to the smell of a whole bunch of different foods. She took a quick look around. None of the lights were on, relying on either natural light or candles, and as she went into the kitchen she found everyone else waiting.

"What's this?" Aubrey asked from behind her. She got out of the way, pulling Beca with.

Amy gestured to the multitude of dishes on the island in the middle of the kitchen. "We cooked up a buffet and put in the first _Star Wars_ \- ginger over there says you secretly love it," she said, pointing to Chloe. Aubrey shot her a scowl that was weakened by her fierce blush.

"We just want you to _chill_ a little, Aubrey," Stacie said. "And maybe, you know, stop holding all of us at arm's length?"

A second of silence passed and Aubrey suddenly burst into simultaneous laughing and crying, slowly bending and lowering to her knees. She covered her face and the crying took over. Chloe exchanged a swift glance with Beca and the two of them leapt to her side.

"Shit," Chloe heard Cynthia-Rose mutter, and glanced up to see her shaking her head, an apologetic grimace on her face. "We didn't expect this to be your reaction."

"Do you hate it?" Ashley asked carefully.

Aubrey moved her hands away from her face; although she was crying, she also wore a trembling smile. "No, I just... I didn't expect any of you to do something this _nice_ for me." She sniffled, wiping away tears. "Especially after how unnecessarily nasty I've been."

"Oh, that's dingo shite," Amy huffed. "We get that you're just a stressful person..."

"Besides, you got this _house_ for all of this," Stacie scoffed. "It might have been Chloe's idea initially, but I think we all know who did all the hard stuff when it came to paperwork." She shot Chloe a wink, then gestured to all the food. "Now dish up, you three. Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to watch all those movies? It's gonna be a _long_ night."

Chloe helped Aubrey to her feet and, after making sure no one was _really_ looking, placed a quick peck on her still slightly damp cheek. On the blonde's other side Beca smirked at the two of them, looking a touch awkward. Chloe got the sense that she wanted to do something affectionate as well but was worried about how that may look, or something - Chloe might have been able to feel exactly what she felt, but that didn't mean she knew _exactly_ what the brunette was _thinking_. She just gave her a look she hoped would soothe her worries a bit, slowly following Aubrey over to the counter. Her appetite, not easily conquered, was happy to see all the food available when she hadn't gotten her fill during lunch. She felt a little bad for Beca, having to still fake more human qualities; she noticed the brunette going over to the fridge to deposit the few leftover containers in the fridge, her food and a bit of Aubrey's. Then she joined everyone at the counter and slipped into a playful conversation with Amy.

Once they were all dished up they moved into the living room; the second everyone was settled Cynthia-Rose pressed play on the waiting menu screen of _The Phantom Menace_. It went through the FBI warning and whatever, then the starting music roared (apparently they even had a pretty good sound system - Chloe made a mental note to thank Cynthia-Rose for buying all this in the first place) and the rolling text began.

Chloe remembered the day she'd found out about Aubrey's secret adoration for _Star Wars_ quite well, and fondly. It was during their first year, before they'd started living together - they'd had different dorm rooms before deciding to move into the apartment dorm their second year. She recalled skipping her way down the halls to Aubrey's dorm; it had been a late night, and Chloe had been driven by some random urge to go see her. At the time Bellas rehearsals hadn't been enough to sate how much she wanted to be around the blonde (which was a telling sign in hindsight). She'd been about to knock on the dorm room door when she caught the sound of quiet sobbing; with her senses she could tell Aubrey was alone in the room. She hesitated a moment but knocked anyway. Aubrey had answered after a few seconds, looking stone-faced and not altogether super pleased to see Chloe at her door at almost ten at night. But Chloe had a particular knack for getting people to open up for her.

Aubrey had almost started crying again as they stood there in her doorway, so she'd let Chloe in, and the two of them sat down on her bed. Her laptop screen showed a paused scene from _Return of the Jedi_ , when Luke, Leia and Han were on the planet of Endor. At first Chloe had just plain asked if Aubrey liked _Star Wars_ \- she'd shut the laptop so fast Chloe wondered if she'd broken the screen. It took a bit more prying to get her to willingly unravel (another telling sign, Chloe supposed, since - considering Aubrey's personality - she had never thought she really _could_ get the blonde to open up so quickly and not just from being annoyed and not wanting to deal with her any longer). Aubrey had explained that she was just feeling a lot of stress, and _Return of the Jedi_ was sort of a last ditch effort to get herself to calm down. She'd told Chloe that, when she was little, her brother would put a _Star Wars_ in whenever she started to get particularly upset, so it was really just a comfort movie. Chloe had offered to give her company while she watched the rest of the movie, and Aubrey had hesitantly, shyly accepted.

It was truly the beginning to their close friendship.

Now, while Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were meeting the mistake of a character known as Jar Jar Binks, Chloe could hardly believe how far the two of them had come. And now they also had Beca to... well, it sounded a bit cheesy, even in Chloe's head, but Beca completed them. She sighed contentedly at the thought (however dorky and kind of melodramatic it was) and flicked her gaze back and forth from Aubrey - she was sitting in the middle of the couch, a seat of honor - and Beca, who was on the floor with Amy. The movie and quiet chatter of everyone else melted into the background.

* * *

 _A/N: If anyone's getting winded by all these long chapters, let me know. I'll try to make them a bit shorter.  
_

 _I was planning on wrapping this up after getting through the events of the second movie (although I would mostly just be focusing on their relationship and the supernatural aspects as opposed to just the plot of the movie), but Pitch Perfect 3 is coming out this winter so I might have to wait until after I see that to come to any sort of decision about when I'll be finishing this lol.  
_

 _Please keep reviewing, favoriting and following! Till next time~_


	29. Chapter XXIX

**\+ XXIX +**

Beca sprinted - well, more like jogged - in the direction of the auditorium. She usually didn't care if she was ever late to anything (being alive for centuries made her learn she could definitely take her time) but knew that if she was late to a cappella auditions Aubrey and Chloe were going to be upset. Now that classes had started they already had tighter schedules and couldn't see each other _as_ much during the day. Beca was having some difficulties in keeping her cool image; the withdrawal symptoms had more or less ceased to be obvious in terms of the sweating or shaking, but she was still prone to irritability, and her (albeit dulling) headaches only exacerbated that. Her friends were being surprisingly cool with her new, sporadic moods, but kids she didn't know in her new classes seemed to be a little scared of her. Which was a little funny, that all these twenty-something-or-so-year-olds were frightened by such a small person as her, and they didn't even know what she was hiding beneath her human cover.

With all that being said, she cherished every moment she got with Aubrey and Chloe. It wasn't going to stay like this or anything - Bellas rehearsals would start tomorrow, right after auditions (and the party in the amphitheater), so that meant she would go back to spending a more normal amount of time with them. And they shared a house now, so. The beginning of the school year was a pleasant distraction for the others to look away from the three of them.

She slipped in through the auditorium doors as quietly as she could, which, by all accounts, was pretty damn silently, and scurried down the aisle to where all the Bellas were sitting up near front. Chloe and Aubrey sat in the very first row, in front of the table they'd sat at when Beca auditioned, with the rest of the group clustered around them in the second and third row. Beca shimmied her way over to a spot next to Stacie, smirking at Chloe when she gave her a happy, affectionate grin over her shoulder and waggling her eyebrows at Aubrey when she turned over her own shoulder with a slight scowl.

Her timing couldn't have been better; the two dudes who ran the auditions came out on stage then and got the whole thing under way. Beca didn't pay all that much attention, partially since it was _really_ all up to the captain who got into the group, although she did make sure she knew relatively who was who in case she was asked who she liked best. About halfway through, though, Emily walked on stage. Beca didn't hear the rest of whatever Stacie was whispering to her - something about the guy who'd just been on, and was most likely a rather sexual comment - as she grinned in the young woman's direction. Emily caught sight of her, and probably Aubrey and Chloe as well, and waved.

The rest of the auditions went by just as Beca assumed they usually did, with very little drama although Bumper goaded the rest of the Trebles into sending some more or less withering remarks in the Bellas' direction. Aubrey really took them like a champ, in Beca's opinion. There was the expected mention of "the incident" as well as a challenge concerning finals, but Aubrey just kept a polite smile and checked the notes she was making. She and Chloe mentioned the two young women they were planning on choosing and the rest of the group, Beca included, responded with a unanimous yes. This time all of them got to be a part of the little induction ceremony for Emily and a girl named Flo, and after some teasing directed at Aubrey for how serious she was being, not to mention trying to convince Emily and Flo they were _literally_ drinking the blood of past Bellas (Beca felt bad, since Emily really seemed to believe it whereas Flo was immensely nonplussed), it was off to the party in the amphitheater.

Beca immediately sought Emily out, unsurprised that Chloe had beaten her to the younger brunette. "Hey!" she greeted the two of them. "It's good to see you, Emily."

Chloe giggled. "And under such better circumstances, right? I was just asking her if she knew about the Kommissar being in that German a cappella group." She inched a bit closer to Beca, so their sides were brushing, but in a pretty subtle way. They were getting more used to Aubrey's insistence that they remain super "low-key" in public, mostly because they were also finding every loophole they possibly could.

"Oh, yeah," Emily said, nodding and brushing some hair behind her ear. "We've kept in touch, but she definitely didn't tell me right away that she joined an a cappella group. She didn't want to have to say I was right - we got to know each other pretty well when we... well, you know, so I was already aware she's a pretty good singer. But are you guys really considering getting all of us into the Worlds competition? That's going to be _insane_!" she gushed.

"To be honest, I think Aubrey's kind of done with the more local competitions," Chloe said. She turned to gaze around the crowd, and so did Beca; the brunette spotted Aubrey talking to someone in one of the other groups. "She redeemed herself last year, and I think that was enough for her," Chloe added, and Beca was pretty sure she was the only one who heard just how caring her tone got. There was one place wherein Chloe forgot to maybe bring it down a notch - not once did her voice change to pretend there wasn't something going on between the three of them. Beca didn't even think she noticed how it _did_ sound.

Emily nodded in understanding, though she wore a frown. "I gotta admit, I'm a little bummed. The past few weeks before classes started my mom has been telling me all about Bella life - everything about the competitions, the sisterhood... I guess I was just expecting it to be a certain way," she said.

"Your mom was a Bella?" Chloe asked. In a snap of a blink she returned to her usual self, any of the hints Beca had come to know so well virtually vanishing as she turned back to Emily with her signature, mega-watt grin.

"Yeah - maybe you've, uh, heard of her? Her name is Katherine Junk."

Chloe let out such an abrupt, loud gasp that Beca jumped a little, causing the drink she'd brought up to her lips to splash out on her hand. "Nomygod!" Chloe squealed. "You're a Junk?! Oh my god I have to find Aubrey!" And with that she dashed off, expertly dodging around other partying a cappella people so quick that anyone she passed just blinked and looked all around themselves in confusion. Beca laughed out loud and sent Emily a slight wink; the younger brunette smiled back. It was a bit weird to think that she was the only other person besides Aubrey (and Jesse) who knew what Beca and Chloe _were_ ; Beca frowned slightly to herself as that thought crossed her mind. It wasn't the first time that she'd been faced with a vague guilt towards not telling the rest of her friends in the Bellas about her true nature. But how would they react? If history was any indication, it could go very badly.

Beca admittedly tuned out for the rest of the party (Aubrey shared a similar reaction to Chloe's upon hearing that Emily was "a Junk", which was apparently a pretty famous name to the Barden Bellas, and after that Beca just stuck pretty close to them, trailing after them like a puppy and sipping her drink with minimal commitment to interacting with literally anyone else) and she didn't even really come back to herself until well after they'd all gotten home and gone to bed. She tossed and turned in her attic bunk, Amy snoring softly across from her. Eventually she just couldn't stand it anymore and silently got out of bed, creeping towards the ladder.

"Where ya going, short stack?"

She flinched and came to a stop, turning slowly to face Amy. The Australian girl was sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes. "Uh... need to pee?" Beca lied. "Why do you need to know?"

"Well, I dunno. You sneak off often at night. What, you got a booty call?"

"N-no!" Beca spluttered. "I - just go back to bed, Amy."

"Not until you tell me where you're really going."

Amy started to get out of bed, and Beca knew there was no way she would be able to keep entirely silent under her persistent ways of "coercion". Really, she just didn't want to get noogied until she shouted out all her secrets - she'd managed to avoid it herself up till now, but she'd seen a few people succumb to it before. She knew she was not much stronger than those people and, with Aubrey's strict desire that they remain goddamn low-key, she unfortunately acted on autopilot. As Amy stood she held a hand up and stared Amy in the eye, allowing hers to change to their vampire color. Amy immediately slowed to a stop and stood there numbly.

"Go back to bed, Amy," Beca said, using her compulsion to its lowest effect. Again, much like at the party, a surge of guilt made her squirm. Amy gave a little nod and got back in bed. "Now go to sleep and, uh... dream of really hot dudes and, er, an all you can eat buffet alongside a free bar." In a matter of seconds Amy was back to lightly snoring, and Beca was silently moving her way through the shadows to get into Aubrey and Chloe's room.

Just as she quietly shut the door she saw Chloe sit up in bed, her eyes glowing just a touch in the dark. She seemed just as wide-awake as Beca. The brunette went over to her bed and sat on the edge; Chloe rolled over and they both just stared at Aubrey in her bed. Her back was facing them but they could hear the gentle rhythm of her breathing. Beca could even hear the thrum of her sleeping pulse and her teeth itched in a way she was not altogether unfamiliar with. Chloe and Aubrey were not the first people she'd found a connection with, they were just the first people she had a _strong_ and _unwavering_ connection with. The way her teeth felt too big for her mouth and she had the impulsive desire to not only flash her fangs around carelessly but to also sink them into something alive - but not for the purpose of feeding - suggested that she was starting to feel even more deeply for the two of them. When it came down to it, for vampires, their relationships could be broken down into steps. The step Beca figured she was nearing was the one that built up a hot desire in her to mark and to claim - and she was damn sure Aubrey, for one, was not ready for that, and who knew if Chloe was.

Beside her, Chloe shivered violently, and Beca was reminded that she could fairly acutely feel her and Aubrey's emotions alongside her own. She turned her head to arch an eyebrow at the redhead; she just smiled shyly. "You doing okay?" Beca whispered, so low that there was no way her voice would wake Aubrey.

"I'm wonderful," Chloe sighed. "Auditions went well... Flo and Emily are great... the overall excitement for doing Worlds instead of just the regular stuff is growing..." She trailed off and her gaze once more settled on Aubrey. Another sigh tumbled from her lips and Beca could still make out her dreamy smile in the dark. It was marred ever so slightly by the tinniest bit of disappointment that Beca understood all too well; it just seemed silly that they were still so under wraps. When was Aubrey going to get it through her head that they were still pretty obvious in _some_ sense, at least to all the Bellas? They were a sisterhood, Beca figured it was safe to say they all knew each other really well, at times better than they knew themselves. But Aubrey was somehow always surprising in her stubbornness.

Sighing, Beca leaned back against Chloe. "When do you think Aubrey will come around?"

Chloe shook her head ever so slightly. "It's hard to say, Becs. You know how she gets, she just... overanalyzes everything. It's a hard habit for her to break... but, I really do think she's starting to calm down. I can feel it." Her expression turned into a frown and she shifted a tiny bit so she wasn't staring at Aubrey anymore, fixing her gaze instead entirely on Beca. "What are you doing out of bed, anyway?" she asked.

"I just really couldn't sleep," Beca muttered. "I feel a little-"

"Guilty?"

Beca pursed her lips and briefly glanced away. "So you could feel me feeling that, huh?"

"No," Chloe sighed, "it's hardly ever that specific... I feel it, too. I don't like having to keep a secret from all the people I care about so much. It was different in my earlier years as a Bella because I didn't quite feel as close to the upperclassmen then, but with our group it's not like that. I truly see everyone as my family. Beca, I feel terrible for hiding myself from them. I know part of it is just for their own safety, but I'm tired of the lying. I wish I could just tell them who and what I really am."

"Why don't you?" Beca suggested softly, looking her right in the eye - Chloe's face lit up in alarm and she started to sit up a bit more. "I mean, just listen to me," Beca amended. "If we tell them the truth they're going to be, like, hella confused-" Chloe snorted in slightly sarcastic laughter "-and they might not even believe us, but I think we can trust them."

Chloe sat up the rest of the way, jostling Beca from her position, and brought her legs up to hug her knees to her chest. She was silent for a good while. "It's just a really big step to take, Beca," she whispered eventually, picking her gaze up from where it had settled on her duvet to meet the brunette's eyes. "I like to believe they'll receive us warmly and that hardly anything will change, but you know there's a _reason_ we don't tell anyone except the people closest to us what our true natures are."

"We aren't going to hurt anybody," Beca unintentionally snapped, her voice rising enough that she glanced in Aubrey's direction to make sure it hadn't woken her. The blonde let out a small groan and turned onto her other side, facing them. Beca could see the slight frown pulling at her forehead. "I just... don't like feeling this way, Chlo. But I won't say anything unless we both agree to do something about it. If we're going to do it at all it should be together."

Chloe gave her a slightly tearful look. "Thanks, Becs. I appreciate that."

They stared at Aubrey. Beca sighed and shot Chloe a smirk. "Now, what are we going to do about her?" she purred, listening to the pull of her body in the blonde's direction. Her hunger for the both of them was getting very real, and she wondered how much longer she could realistically take things slow. And, judging by the way Chloe's gaze darkened in a pretty similar connotation, Beca assumed the redhead was in a similar boat. She threw her covers off and joined Beca at Aubrey's bedside in the blink of an eye, and the two of them crawled into bed with her, only causing her to stir a tiny bit again. She didn't wake.

Beca, on the side against the wall, picked herself up to gaze at Chloe. Their eyes met and they seemed to be in agreement - Aubrey needed a little push. Just a tiny one. Beca leaned down towards her face, pointedly ignoring her neck and the way it was practically throbbing, her pulse more apparent than usual. She maintained her self-control and gave Aubrey a light kiss on the cheek, wrapping an arm around her waist while Chloe did the same and kissed at her neck. They both jostled her a little to get her to wake up - she did so with a confused grunt, halfway through the motion of trying to sit up. Their arms around her kept her in place.

"What's going on?" she slurred sleepily. "Beca? Where did you come from?"

"I missed you guys," Beca breathed in her ear, eliciting a shiver.

"I just need to be close to you both," Chloe sighed.

Aubrey blinked, and Beca could see her slight confusion shining through the darkness, but under her and Chloe's administrations she quickly calmed. Sighing, Aubrey laid back down, worming her arms underneath the both of them to hold them closer. Beca kissed her for a few languid moments, then moved to Chloe. Kissing either of them was almost like a whole new experience every time - and it only made her hunger worse, dwindling her self-control down to nothing. She accidentally bit down hard enough on Chloe's lip to make her squeak, and she wrenched herself away before the bead of blood prompted out by her fangs could touch her tongue, lying back down with a groan and covering her face with her hands.

"Becs? What's wrong?" Chloe asked, breathing a bit hard.

Shaking her head, Beca muttered softly, "I just don't know how much longer I can control myself."

"Oh, Beca, that's okay," Chloe purred, and Beca felt her warm weight, typically warmer than Aubrey's beside her. Speaking of, the blonde was being rather silent, which wasn't exactly like her. Certainly not in situations like this. "Maybe... maybe you don't _have_ to control yourself anymore. Right, Bree?" Chloe added, her voice a drug in and of itself. Beca squirmed.

She removed her hands from her face, though, to see Aubrey's reaction. The blonde's lips were parted as she panted slightly and while she did _look_ calm Beca could still hear the raging of her pulse, and just that didn't really give her a very good sense of how she was actually feeling. It could be anything from nervousness to excitement, and Beca didn't want to jump to conclusions, no matter how much Chloe seemed to definitely be on the excited side of things (although really, when was she _not_?) and was maybe even trying to give Aubrey a bigger push than Beca initially thought they were going to.

"Bree?" she said, rolling onto her side to face the blonde some more. Chloe gazed down at them both with beaming bright blue eyes. "You're being unusually quiet."

Aubrey visibly swallowed. She looked up to the ceiling, taking her time to respond; Beca glanced swiftly to Chloe, slightly relieved that the redhead had chilled herself out a little. "Well, honestly," Aubrey scoffed, abruptly breaking the silence, "I think it's about time we... took that step in our relationship. I'm ready."

Chloe immediately grinned, her eyes flashing in a distinctly wolfish way, but Beca reached out to bar her back from taking Aubrey right then and there. "Hold on," she said, directing it to both of them. "It's... it's a little different for me, to just... I mean casual sex with, like, a pet is one thing, but with a potential mate it's another thing entirely. I'm going to have the urge to really claim you _both_ as mine and that's a super serious step. No going back from it, it's kinda like... pre-engagement. Does that make sense?"

"You're saying... you're going to claim us, and that's more than just having sex for the first time," Aubrey echoed slowly, frowning. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"I'm going to mark you two, for one thing," Beca half-grunted. She sat up and shifted so her back was to the wall, her legs crossed. Aubrey and Chloe moved too so they were sitting and facing her. Running a hand through her hair, she sighed. The smell of their building arousal was just as obvious as their pounding pulses and a decent part of her felt bad for ruining it with another serious talk on her nature as a vampire. But it was important, and she didn't really trust herself, in this situation above all others, to maintain control over her urges when it was most needed. "It kinda has a bit to do with blood and Aubrey, I know you probably don't want to totally decimate your sheets because you're you and the mess will drive you up the wall and I'd rather drive you up the wall in a much different way."

Aubrey blushed and her eyes flicked away momentarily. On the other hand, Chloe grinned a large, toothy grin back and forth between them. "Well, then... maybe we should..." Her nose scrunched up and she scowled. "I don't want to say we should _plan_ it out, because that sounds a little bizarre and a bit like we've been married so long that we don't or won't even have sex unless it's on some sort of schedule."

"No, we don't have to do anything like that," Beca chuckled. "I dunno, I think all we really need is to be clear with communication. Although what's really so bad about saying something like, hey, we're gonna do this tomorrow night. How does that sound?"

"Do you mean we're actually going to?" Chloe chirped, wiggling very much like she was wagging her currently nonexistent tail. "Tomorrow night? Because god, I would love to."

Beca laughed again and Aubrey smiled somewhat nervously. "If that's what you both want. I would love it, too. I, uh..." She shrugged and stared down at her hands in her lap, picking at a string on her pajama pants. "I'm gonna get a little sappy for a, um, a moment, 'cause I really care about you both and I want to show you as much and as a vampire this is a very important step for me because marking you lets other vampires know you essentially belong to me and it makes me feel closer to the two of you and I just really, _really_ want to be with you two."

She glanced up, rolling her eyes at Chloe's and Aubrey's matching grins. "We really care about you too, Beca," Aubrey said softly.

"And just so you know, this is a big step for me as well," Chloe said. She scooted closer to them, nuzzling briefly into Aubrey's neck and eliciting a giggle, then taking Beca's hands in her own. "This will really make me able to feel you both even more than I already can."

"Will that be too much for you?" Aubrey asked, tucking a stray strand of wavy red hair behind her ear with one hand and reaching out to give Beca's knee a squeeze with the other.

Chloe shook her head. "It'll only last a moment. From what my mom has told me, it's excruciatingly blissful. She describes it as invisible threads connecting our hearts in the most intimate way possible, making it so that, for that moment, the two of you can also feel what I'm feeling. I think it's going to be really intense, especially since - as I've heard - being with a vampire is like that pretty much in general."

"Don't sell yourself short, Chlo," Beca snorted. " _I've_ heard that being with a werewolf is very intense. But I guess it's fairly uncharted territory."

"Practically unheard of, you mean."

Aubrey let out a sudden, slightly high-pitched peal of laughter, scrubbing her hands down her face and leaning backwards against her headboard. "Oh god," she half-wheezed. "I'm getting a little nervous again."

"What? Why?" Chloe and Beca said simultaneously. With a short glance to the other and in a quick flash of movement they were lying back down with Aubrey pressed in between them.

She smiled, a bit awkwardly, at each of them in turn. "Do I really have anything to offer you two, just being a human?" she whispered.

"Bree, no," Beca huffed. "Just because we _aren't_ entirely human that doesn't mean everything will be mind-blowing all the time. It's just this first time especially - like Chloe and I have kinda been saying, there are a lot of milestones to be made, and that's in any relationship. For us it's just very specific."

"Yeah, and I _know_ you, Bree," Chloe tacked on. "Being with you is going to be _amazing_."

"But-" Aubrey began, and they both shushed her with a barrage of kisses all over her face until she was laughing, that real laugh Beca had only started hearing when they _really_ started getting closer. It was one of her favorite sounds in the whole world. She pushed them away a little, grinning, her breathing steadying out. "Thank you," she murmured.

Chloe snuggled into her side, letting out a long, contented side. Beca laid down as well, but in a position where she could watch the two of them (her sleeping schedule honestly being as fucked as it was, she hardly got sleep most of the time anyway, preferring to spend her nights doing stuff for classes, working on her mixes, or hunting so that she would have time during the day to squeeze in little power naps). They fell asleep rather quickly. She could hear it, the way their breathing eased into that gentle rhythm and their pulses soothed. Only then did she curl around Aubrey enough so that she could also hold Chloe as much as possible, though she didn't bother trying to fall asleep even then. She thought about her conversation with Chloe and the thrumming excitement throughout her entire body at the prospect of what the three of them were going to do tomorrow night - taking the next step in their relationship was turning her into a bit of a flustered mess, ruining her cool image. She smiled to herself. It didn't matter if she was nervous; it would probably make Aubrey feel better, for one thing, to see she wasn't alone in feeling that way, and she was also pretty sure Chloe was holding onto similar feelings herself. Her bigger worry, really, was the fact that she had no idea how she was going to get through tomorrow without being stranger than normal. Why did the big audition night have to be on a goddamn Thursday this year? Although, with any luck, that meant most of the other Bellas had plans for tomorrow night that would take them out of the house. If they stuck around then there would really be no need for them to finally come out to their friends, as if they didn't already know. Beca let her eyes close, her last thought being if they should speak to the rest of the Bellas beforehand, since that seemed like a really lame way of telling them they were in a relationship, and she resolved to bring it up in the morning.

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 _A/N: So I know it's been awhile and I'm sorry! I couldn't bring myself to continue this for a good while, and I knew that if I forced it I wouldn't like what I wrote and I wouldn't feel good sharing it with you guys, because you deserve the good stuff. But I hope you liked this chapter and are happy to see this is back lol :)  
_

 _Tomorrow is actually the one year anniversary of when I first published this story, so I REALLY HOPE to get the next chapter done for tomorrow (the twenty-second). It'll be a good one ;)_

 _Thanks so much for sticking with me on this. Please remember to review, favorite, and follow! Till next time (hopefully tomorrow)~_


	30. Chapter XXX

_A/N: The second half of this chapter is rated M._

 _Listening to First Aid Kit - "Wolf" and She Wants Revenge - "Tear You Apart"._

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 **\+ XXX +**

"Are you kidding me, red?!" Fat Amy bellowed, causing Aubrey to jump and drop the dry erase marker in her hand. She whirled around to the sight of Chloe doing high-knees in place, an apologetic grin covering her face. Amy was sprawled out on her seat like she'd fallen into it. She got to her feet with a bit of a huff and brushed herself off - meanwhile, the rest of the Bellas were watching on with wide eyes. "That's the second time since practice started! Ya know that was only five minutes ago, yeah?"

"Sorry Amy!" Chloe half-squealed, her legs moving even faster. "I just have a lot of energy and I'm excited to get started! First Bellas rehearsal of the year! Whoo!" She took off at a sprint up the steps around the seats, up and down, up and down.

Aubrey watched after her for a few moments, frowning in concern. From what she'd heard, because she was for whatever reason the person everyone went to when Chloe was acting stranger than normal, this wasn't the first instance of Chloe - well, acting stranger than normal. She'd been approached numerous times today by people in Chloe's classes asking if the redhead was alright or if she'd started doing drugs. Or if she was doing more drugs than usual. Aubrey had dismissed most of them with a laugh and the common saying of "it's just Chloe being Chloe", which didn't seem to work today as people just shot her odd looks and walked away, shaking their heads and tsking to themselves or muttering something to whoever they were with. Aubrey hadn't thought much of it at the time. Now that she knew Chloe was not just an interesting, exuberant character but also a _werewolf_ , she didn't really think there was such a thing anymore as Chloe acting stranger than normal.

But now, seeing the redhead sprint around the room and hardly bother to hide her grossly fast speed, she understood. She looked to Beca for help, admittedly for the first time since they all met for rehearsal - she was _also_ , and maybe _actually_ , really excited for them to get started, so they could bring Emily and Flo into all this - but Beca was fidgeting a lot in her seat and appeared rather out of sorts as well. She was a hell of a lot more pale than usual, definitely looking more like a vampire, and her cheekbones were sticking out like she hadn't eaten in days. Her eyes were also doing a weird flicking back and forth from blue to silver.

So perhaps she'd _really_ underestimated how much tonight meant to them before they even got started with it. She suddenly felt awful for not considering it beforehand, and she, in true fashion, had already given quite a bit of time to thinking about tonight, the logistics of it as well as mentally preparing herself. It _was_ going to be different. After all, she'd never been claimed or marked by anyone before, and she'd never felt more or less exactly what another person was feeling, either. Not to mention she'd never been with two people. She was nervous and excited but she would also be remiss if she let it affect her for today, if only so she didn't let anyone know that something was maybe going on. Chloe and Beca, on the other hand, were obviously not going to be super subtle about it. If only because they physically _couldn't_.

"Chloe," Aubrey called softly, and the redhead came to a screeching halt halfway back down the stairs. "Please just... calm down. We'll get to cardio in a little bit, but first I want to talk to all of you about what I'm planning for this year and to welcome Emily and Flo." She raised her eyebrows pointedly and tilted her head to the side, signaling that her co-captain should be at her side instead of bouncing on the walls. Chloe nodded, grinning, and in the blink of an eye stood at Aubrey's side. Of course she didn't stop moving, practically jumping from one foot to the other, though she did clasp her hands firmly in front of herself.

"Jesus Christ," Stacie snickered. "Did you start doing crack or something, Chlo?"

Aubrey sighed. "Alright everyone," she barked, snapping herself out of it and clapping once to really get everyone's attention. "Welcome to the first day of Bellas rehearsal. Please give another warm welcome to our two new Bellas, Emily and Flo."

"Cheers, mates," Amy said with a nod in their direction, as they were sitting beside each other on one end of the line of seats.

"Yeah, welcome to the Aubrey Hour," Cynthia-Rose chuckled.

"Oh, come on," Aubrey countered, joking back. "I think I've gotten much better since all of you joined last year."

"True that!" Cynthia-Rose yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

"Something you might like to remember is that Aubrey is _ca-raaazzy_ ," Stacie said.

"There was someone in my village like that," Flo said. "She was burned at the stake."

Everyone sort of faltered at that, shooting her bizarre looks as a confused, is-she-serious feel culminated in the room. Aubrey picked her marker back up and moved out of the way of the whiteboard. "On that note, I've drawn up the year's plan," she said, hoping to get them all back on track with a chart much like the one she had last year, just the goal no longer simply being finals. "As I'm sure all of you are aware now, we aren't going to do the regular competition this year. We're going to the Worlds competition, which will be hosted in Copenhagen. With that being said I still hope to do some things here at home to really get everyone excited about us going to Worlds _and_ to keep us in shape for performing. How does that sound to all of you?" She bounced a little and bit down on her lower lip with her own more or less repressed excitement, glancing around the room.

"This is kind of a really big step to take, right?" Jessica said with a frown. "I mean, we're going right up in the ranks sort of thing."

"What kind of competition do you expect?" Emily spoke up, tone a bit shy.

Aubrey shot her a smile, still glad to see the younger brunette finally here after talking to her about being a Bella back in Romania. Her mom being a Barden Bella legacy was just the cherry on top. "The list of groups already registered isn't complete, since the deadline for signing up isn't for another month or so, but I've checked out a few groups. Really, they're all pretty phenomenal. The competition will be _all_ of them."

"Have you seen if Das Sound Machine is on that list?" Beca asked. Her voice wavered and cracked, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Yes, I have. Out of all the other groups I checked out they definitely seem like the ones we should be most worried about. Actually, they have a little show coming up that I thought we should go to, to really see what we're up against since not all of us ran into them in that parking lot at the end of summer."

"What's Das Sound Machine?" Emily asked.

"A kickass group from Germany. Right? They had accents, anyway," Cynthia-Rose replied with an off-handed shrug.

"Right, but that's getting a bit off track. I'd really like to see where everyone is at with a few singing drills and then we can set aside a short break in the time we usually do cardio so that Chloe can get out some more of her apparently really pent up energy." Aubrey gave the redhead another pointed look, but Chloe didn't seem to notice this time. Her nose was twitching a little and her eyes were dilated in such a way that the color was really prominent. Another glance in Beca's direction told Aubrey the brunette was in a similar boat; she seriously looked half-dead, which in and of itself was freakish, but the dominant emotion in her expression was definitely one of hunger. Aubrey wondered if anybody in her classes so far today had made any comment on it to her, or if they were almost too afraid to approach her.

They got through her planned singing drills without much of a hitch, giving her a chance to work out how Flo and Emily would fit into the group. Although Chloe and Beca were certainly distracted they both seemed to be putting a lot of effort into not letting it get the better of them, for which Aubrey was grateful.

As they took their break and Chloe once again took off around the entire practice area, and Beca started pacing back and forth closer to the doors, Aubrey sat and thought about what the brunette had mentioned to them that morning. How it would maybe be a good idea if they told the rest of the Bellas about the nature of their relationship. As she'd expected, Chloe was pretty on board with the idea, and she really got to realize how uncomfortable the two of them honestly felt keeping such a thing from their friends. She agreed, and she hoped with all her heart that she wasn't just being incredibly selfish keeping this some sort of secret. Their friends deserved to know. She was just nervous to announce it.

"Can I tell you all something?" she spoke up, not too loudly since everyone was clustered around each other while eating their snacks and drinking water, and Beca and Chloe would hear her no matter what. In fact, she wasn't surprised when they showed up on either side of her in the blink of an eye. The others, on the other hand, seemed fairly startled.

"Eh," Fat Amy drawled, scowling as her gaze slid from the two of them and back to Aubrey. "You mean you want to finally tell us the three of you aren't just joeys in a pouch, but dingoes in a den?"

There was a pregnant pause. "What?" Aubrey half-snapped in confusion.

"If I'm translating that correctly, I think she means the three of you aren't just really good friends, but you're actually _together_ ," Stacie said slowly. Amy nodded and they shared a quick high-five, leering at the three of them.

"That's... true," Aubrey stammered. She scoffed to herself, shaking her head in slight mortification with herself. "Wow, of course all of you knew..."

"Took you long enough to figure that out," Beca joked, but she still sounded off.

"Honestly, it took all three of ya long enough to _admit it_ ," Cynthia-Rose huffed. "Now let's see if the two of _you_ explain why you get so goddamn weird sometimes," she added, pointing a finger from Beca to Chloe and back again. The other Bellas erupted in a chorus of agreement - minus Flo, who appeared to just be observing, and Emily, who was obviously trying valiantly to look like she _didn't_ know anything and failing just a bit.

Beca shrugged, eyes still shimmering. "I don't know what you're talking about, dude."

"Can we just-" Aubrey interjected, cutting herself off to take a deep, calming breath. "I want to say I'm sorry for being selfish towards all of you, Beca and Chloe included, for not just telling you all we were together and attempting to hide it. I... at first I thought it would be a tough pill for any of you to swallow and I didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable."

Amy snorted."Uncomfortable? See, she is batshit," she said, directing the last part to Flo who nodded sagely in agreement.

Rolling her eyes, Aubrey stood. "Okay, break's over. We have just a few more things to cover and I'd like to remind all of you that practice will be a decent bit longer than today so that we can really be prepared - even a bit longer than they were last year. Just remember I'll still allow you to leave early if you meet certain exceptions-"

"We want to know what else the three of you are hiding," Stacie interrupted sternly. She and everyone else was staring from Aubrey, to Beca, to Chloe and back again. Aubrey just looked to her girlfriends, admittedly with a panicked expression, probably, and waited for them to say anything. They quite abruptly calmed, shooting each other quick glances; Chloe stopped fidgeting (for the most part) and Beca sat up a bit straighter, though that hardly did anything to make her look less like a walking corpse. At the very least her eyes stayed their dark blue.

"It's nothing, Stacie," Chloe said calmly. "I can't speak for Beca, but I'm just _really_ excited about today. It's been a good day! What's so weird about that?"

"Maybe the fact that you can run fast as a cheetah?" Amy grumbled.

"A-and I think I might actually be getting a little sick, to be honest," Beca said with a very obvious fake cough into the crook of her elbow.

Aubrey sighed lightly in dismay at the resounding eye-rolls the rest of the Bellas - minus Emily - shared. She didn't like this, how it looked like nobody _trusted_ them, and if they didn't all trust each other then how on earth were they going to continue to get along? How were they going to _win Worlds_? But she couldn't make this decision for Beca and Chloe - in this sense she was still an outsider, still just a human, and she could sit on the sidelines and cheer them on, but she couldn't be part of the game. She wasn't even sure if she could get the others to leave the matter be for just a bit longer in case Beca and Chloe really _did_ want to tell them soon. They weren't apt to listen to her this time, not after what they'd experienced the past year.

"Let's put it this way," Stacie growled, leaning forward. "We're all kinda worried about the two of you and how frickin' _weird_ you can be. I mean, Chlo, either your periods are fucking insane or _you_ are, because every month you go from your usual, easier to handle weirdness to something I don't even know how to describe!"

"And let's not forget how short stack over here is creeping in and out of our room in the middle of the night," Amy tacked on. "All the time, I wake up and she's gone, then I wake up again and she's over at her equipment working on mixes. How do you never _sleep_ , eh?"

Beca and Chloe exchanged another furtive, panicked glance.

"I've never had to buy so many groceries before in my life to catch up to how much Chloe eats," Cynthia-Rose huffed. "With that being said, I don't think I've ever seen Beca eat anything unless we were all having a meal together."

"Okay, hold on," Emily squeaked the same time Aubrey opened her mouth, struggling to think of some way to come to their defense. Everyone looked to the new Bella and she squirmed awkwardly. "Um, I know I'm new here and I don't even get to live in the house with you guys because I'm a freshman and have to live in the dorms, but it doesn't seem fair of any of you to be attacking anyone in particular. What's so strange, really, about the things you're describing? When you really think about it, it sounds to me that maybe Chloe has hormone imbalances, Beca has insomnia, and I mean, doesn't Chloe run a lot? That requires a lot of energy and I'm pretty sure Beca does _not_ get much exercise and therefore probably doesn't need as much energy." She flushed and held her hands up. "But that's just, um, my thoughts."

Lily said something really quiet, and although everyone - Aubrey included - just stared at her in confusion for lack of hearing, Beca and Chloe suddenly looked a lot more embarrassed and even terrified. Chloe's eyes brimmed with tears, her lower lip quivering; she got to her feet and quickly exited the auditorium, her sniffles echoing off the high walls. Beca stayed in her seat and stared down at her hands in her lap, her hair curtaining off her face so Aubrey couldn't see her expression. She assumed it wasn't a very happy one.

Touching Beca's shoulder, she whispered, "Can I talk to you outside?"

Beca nodded and stood, shoving her hands in her pockets and following Aubrey outside in Chloe's wake. They found her sitting out in the grass near a tree, her hair glowing in the sun and honestly just making her look beautiful. Aubrey took Beca's hand and they sat in front of the redhead, Beca in the shade. For a few moments they were silent - Aubrey didn't know what to say, and she felt helpless not being able to offer either of them any comfort. She supposed being with them in a quiet show of support was a good step, but it wasn't nearly enough. Her heart ached for their troubles and she wished she understood just a little bit more what they were going through so she could help them with it.

"What can I do?" she whispered. Clearing her throat, she added more loudly, "For you?"

Chloe shook her head and sniffled again. "It isn't anything for you to worry about, Bree. This is something Beca and I have to decide on our own." She glanced up from the pile of grass she was ripping up. "Do we tell them or not? Obviously they've noticed we're not _normal_ and it hurts them to not have answers. But it's just - it's so dangerous to tell a bunch of humans what we are. Beca and I have talked about it a lot. While we _want_ to tell them, we could get in a lot of trouble, especially if something bad happens."

"Like we accidentally show off _too much_ of ourselves," Beca muttered despondently.

Aubrey shifted as close to both of them as she could get, touching their knees with hers. "I know the two of you, and I am continuously proud of how strong you are. Neither of you are going to do anything bad like that," she said.

They glanced to her, each with varying expressions of unease. "But if we just _tell_ them without any sort of proof they probably won't believe us," Chloe said, shaking her head again.

"And proving it would be dangerous," Beca reiterated.

"Then don't tell them," Aubrey half-sighed. "I can help you fight off all their questions, and I bet Emily will, too. They're bound to realize eventually that you just aren't going to answer them and they'll move on. Just please, tell me what I can do to get them off your backs and I'll do it. I don't like seeing either of you so upset over this."

"How else are we supposed to feel, Aubrey?" Chloe growled, a solitary tear dripping off her eyelashes. "We're lying to people who are essentially our _sisters_."

"You can go back to being excited about tonight," Aubrey murmured weakly.

To her surprise that actually got them to perk up a little despite the miserable undertones that probably weren't going to go away all that soon. They shifted simultaneously (something that occasionally freaked Aubrey out a little, since they seemed to get the exact same thought at the same time) to sit on either side of her and rest their heads on her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around their waists and tugged them close, shutting her eyes to really feel their proximity and the warmth of the late afternoon sun.

"Your heart's beating faster than normal," Beca said softly after a few moments of silence. She didn't move. "Are you nervous about tonight? 'Cause I am. It's honestly a lot of pressure and I just can't wait, as I'm sure you've both noticed."

"I don't think you're any worse than Chloe," Aubrey giggled, and the redhead snarled playfully in response, also without moving. "I am nervous. Like I said, I... I want it to be special for the two of you but I have no idea how I'm going to do that being just a simple-"

"I love that you're human," Chloe interrupted softly before she could even finish the thought. "Completely human, anyway. I've never been entirely sure what that's like and I just think it's so interesting to see how humans function. I guess it isn't _so_ different from me when you get down to it, but to me it's... worlds apart."

"You say that while still being _half_ -human," Beca whispered.

Aubrey squirmed, prompting their heads up so they looked at her. "I want you to know that the fact that neither of you are entirely human... it doesn't scare me. Anymore." She smiled and laughed a bit awkwardly, averting her gaze - their eyes were always so intense on individuals levels, putting them together just turned her to a pile of melted butter. "I will admit there was a time when you first told me that I was sort of terrified, and I'm surprised at how quickly I got used to it. There are still things about it that occasionally throw me for a loop but I love you both and I can't imagine not being with you."

Seconds of silence ticked by and she looked up, confused as to why they weren't saying anything, but the looks on their faces made it click. She just told them she loved them. Her cheeks instantly lit on fire and her mouth flummoxed open and shut, terrified it was the wrong thing to say and partially wanting to take it back.

"Aubrey," Chloe said softly, hints of a laugh in her tone, "we love you too. I think we've already made that clear after you two magically got me to turn back into my human form when I was forced to turn - that doesn't just _happen_ , you know."

"Yeah, and, uh, I think if we _didn't_ love you then we wouldn't need tonight to be so special and we wouldn't be freaking out about being mates," Beca scoffed, rolling her eyes. A grin pulled at her lips and she showed off her teeth, a few of them sharper than was explicitly human, but she didn't seem aware of it. She tugged Aubrey to her side, kissing her on the forehead, then yanked Chloe practically into her lap after a kiss on the cheek. The redhead dissolved into bouncing giggles and Aubrey simply sighed in relief.

She really did love them with all her heart.

"We should probably go back inside soon," she huffed. "The others will be wondering where we got to and will either want to apologize for interrogating the two of you or say they aren't just going to drop the whole thing."

"Can we sit out here for a few more minutes?" Beca hummed. "I blame the two of you for softening my hardened outer shell, but I want to hold you to me awhile longer."

Chloe gave one of her happy wiggles. "I like the sound of that."

Aubrey smiled, butterflies erupting in her stomach - the good kind, not the kind that made her think she was about to vomit. She let her eyes close again, thinking about how much she liked how Beca could hear her heartbeat and Chloe could feel exactly how happy she was.

* * *

Aubrey was not the most experienced when it came to sex.

Especially with women. She'd had few partners in general, but the men outnumbered the women by one or two, and while she had had a crush on Chloe for the longest time it made her feel slightly ashamed to imagine what it would be like to _be_ with her in such a way. When Beca came around it got a bit more difficult to shove any fantasies into the back of her mind but she had remained steadfast and tried to give it little thought.

Then they all got together and almost every day she just waited for the moment her heart would give out under their attention. Chloe's lips were fire and Beca's were the ice that soothed it afterwards. The varying temperatures of their bodies matched that and while it was helpful to remind Aubrey who was touching her at any moment - be it simply a hand rubbing her lower back or a nose nuzzling into her neck - it was also polar opposite from each other and, at times, _confusing_. Aubrey didn't know how to handle it. And they hadn't done anything more than just kissing yet, albeit while lying all wrapped up in each other.

So tonight. Tonight was going to be new.

She'd gone outside to try and read one of her law books, just to fixate on something she felt comfortable with already, while Beca and Chloe made their own separate preparations. When they'd started telling her the specific things they would need she'd begun to feel anxious, so she told them to just do and get whatever they needed and she would take care of setting the mood in their bedroom. Yes, theirs, since the rest of the Bellas had pretty much told them to stop partitioning themselves like they were still playing some sort of charade. Over the weekend Beca was going to move out of the attic to make room for Flo and the three of them would officially be sharing the same room. Cynthia-Rose was even going out to pick out a nice king-sized bed for them to share as opposed to the two beds they had in the room already, saying she would use her "lesbian expertise" to find just the right one. Whatever that meant.

Aubrey shook her head to herself, kind of wishing they had that king-sized bed right now instead of Chloe's, which was bigger than her own since the redhead was a bit of a crazy sleeper and needed a lot of room to sprawl out. Aubrey was putting different sheets and blankets on it, remembering Beca's comment about it probably getting messy - she blushed at the thought - and the last thing she wanted was to ruin a good pair of sheets. She'd also placed candles around the room and set out a bottle of wine her parents had given her for her twenty-first birthday, really more for herself so she could calm her nerves.

It was getting relatively late; as far as she was concerned the rest of the Bellas were out doing _other things_. Either they were really lucky just because it was a Friday and people typically went out tonight, or they had all sensed the three of them wanted some sort of privacy and had made themselves scarce. Aubrey really hoped for the former - her cheeks would probably melt right off if she blushed any more, for one thing. She had no idea what to expect but knew she didn't want the others around to... well, possibly _hear_ it.

 _Maybe we should have just bought this house for ourselves, not for all the Bellas_ , she thought with a light scoff, shaking her head again. She finished making the bed and sat down on the edge to look around the room. In her opinion, it was perfect. The amount of candles she put out created the perfect lighting so they could all still see each other, but it would be a soothing, flickering light, and to Aubrey that sounded simply divine. It was simple. It was cozy. She just hoped Beca and Chloe would like it.

For about the hundredth time she checked the clock. It was almost nine. She got up to take her jacket off and hang it, wondering nervously if she should change into less clothes, like a bathrobe or something. Would that be weird? She was probably making it weird. What if there was something really specific she should have done for the two of them? What if-

The sound of the door softly clicking open made her jump, and she whirled around in time to see Beca come in and close it after herself. She arched an eyebrow. "You okay, Bree?" she asked, approaching the bed. She hadn't brought anything with her.

"I'm fine," Aubrey stammered. "Just... nervous."

Beca nodded. "It's okay, I am too." She reached out, lightly rubbing her hands up and down Aubrey's arms and leading her into a gentle sway as if they were dancing. Stepping closer, she wrapped her arms around Aubrey's waist, tugging her forward so they were pressed flush against each other. Aubrey unintentionally let out a little gasp. "Chloe said I should calm you down a little 'cause she'll still be another minute. How does that sound?" she said, voice a touch deeper than usual and sending electric pings across Aubrey's nerves.

She only managed a mute nod, and Beca smiled softly, leaning up practically on her tip-toes to kiss her. It started out gentle and slow. Aubrey tried to force herself to relax, release some of the tension in her body to melt into Beca's body, but something felt a bit off.

"Chloe will be here in just a moment," Beca reassured.

Aubrey nodded again, a bit dumbly from the influence of Beca's lips - and her _voice_ \- feeling a bit better. Chloe would be here and then she could feel whole again. Since when, though, had she started feeling this way? She always noticed when they weren't all together that she missed whoever wasn't there, but they had also been managing to have three relationships in one, something Aubrey had read would help make their triad relationship more successful. But even then she hadn't felt like an entire third of her heart wasn't actually in her chest - she knew it belonged to Chloe, but this was... well, it was a _lot_. It was overwhelming!

Lost in her thoughts as she was, she startled at the feeling of a pair of hands sliding over her shoulders and squeezing them. She pulled away from Beca's mouth to look over her shoulder at Chloe, who smiled warmly and started kissing her neck. Another small gasp leapt from her lips and she flushed a little.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long, Bree," the redhead murmured.

"Wh-what about Beca?" Aubrey stammered; she was starting to tremble uncontrollably with a mixture of anticipation and a mounting heat more intense than anything she'd ever felt.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Chloe breathed, a hot puff of air against Aubrey's neck. She shivered and her knees buckled, but Beca was quick to catch her, chuckling darkly and affectionately at the same time.

"So," Aubrey began, but she had to pause and clear her throat as Beca descended down to kiss her chest, slightly uncovered by her low-cut shirt. "How exactly does this... work?"

"I thought I'd begin with you," Beca purred, "and then Chloe, as far as my marking you."

"And what does that mean?" Chloe asked.

"It involves a bit of biting. And drinking your blood."

Aubrey shivered again, and she felt Chloe react similarly, her front pressed to her back just like how Beca was pressed to her front. She felt engulfed by them and her feelings _for_ them and she almost started breathing too hard, only managing to calm down by reminding herself that they were both right there and she could just reach out for either of them when or if (but most likely when) she started freaking out. She grabbed the lapels of Beca's jacket and yanked it down, forcing her to unwrap her arms from around her waist to take it off. Behind her Chloe made a bit of a snarling noise and her warmth disappeared from Aubrey's back; she tugged at the blonde's shirt and Aubrey raised her arms for her to take it off, feeling the warmth back and even tripled by Chloe's apparently now mostly bare skin. She turned over her shoulder again and captured Chloe's lips in a kiss, hearing Beca make a low hissing sound through her teeth.

They started stumbling for the bed, shedding more articles of clothing until they were all down to their underwear and Aubrey was starting to feel lightheaded, seeing them this way. Certainly she was relatively used to catching snippets of Chloe's bare skin when she came home after a night of the full moon, but nothing this intimate. And with Beca, well, they'd struggled to get her into a bathing suit over the summer. Her skin was milky white and _so soft_ \- Aubrey couldn't stop running one hand up and down her back, tracing her spine, while her other hand pressed into Chloe's _well_ defined, rippling muscles. Honestly, she had no clue how she was still breathing by this point. She moved onto the bed for fear of her legs quitting on her entirely.

Chloe climbed over her and lightly rubbed her chest, smile morphing into an ecstatic grin; Aubrey returned it and picked her head up to kiss her again. She felt the bed dip with Beca's weight and pulled away to watch her hover just above her torso, eyes completely silver and filled with a nervousness Aubrey had never seen in her before. Chloe must have noticed it as well - she shifted, cooing, and urged Beca into a kiss. It lasted just long enough for Aubrey to prop herself up on her elbows, then Beca shifted to sit back on her haunches and stare at them.

"Are you ready, Aubrey?" she asked. Her eyes darted to Chloe. "And just to warn you both, I'm, uh, gonna have to be in my... vampire form for this."

"Okay," Chloe said, nodding. She seemed at a loss for words, her eyes glazed over a bit.

"I'm ready," Aubrey half-panted.

Beca nodded and moved again, like water, so her mouth was hovering just above her hip bone, nudging her thighs apart slightly with her jaw. Chloe snarled, baring her teeth and watching her, but Aubrey couldn't tell if it was anything territorial or if it was from some sort of pleasure. She was positioned nearer to Aubrey's head, still massaging her chest and around the base of her neck. Her eyes glowed and mingled nicely with the orange of the candlelight. Beca glanced up, first to Aubrey and then very briefly to Chloe before fixing back on Aubrey and maintaining eye-contact while her body tensed and she quickly transformed. And though Aubrey had seen her in her vampire form before, she still shivered, unsure how to feel about it. Her face was hollow, her teeth looked _scarily_ sharp, her fingers ended in claws that could probably slash through flesh with ease, and the tips of her pointed ears were sticking out through her thick hair. And then there was her skin... it glowed faintly, a grayish hue, distracting Aubrey momentarily from the nature of just what they were doing.

The tip of a cool nose roused her from what honestly felt like a trance; she shook herself out of it, realizing she was sort of panting, and looked into Beca's compelling eyes. "Ready?" she asked again. "I want you to be prepared, 'cause - not gonna lie - it'll hurt."

"I'm ready," Aubrey breathed.

"Just hold onto Chloe if it starts to hurt too bad," Beca murmured, brow furrowing. She looked somewhat uncomfortable, her eyes darting this way and that. After a moment she took in a long breath and focused her gaze back onto Aubrey's, dipping her head back down to her thigh. She placed an open-mouthed kiss over the inner part and her eyes seemed to quiver, a low, animalistic groan wrenching out of a deep part of her throat. Aubrey glanced briefly to Chloe, who seemed to be looking back and forth between them as if she wasn't entirely sure where she wanted to focus. The hand she was using to rub Aubrey's chest moved to splay across Beca's shoulder and sort of push her further into between Aubrey's legs, eliciting a high-pitched gasp from both of them and a purr from Beca.

Her eyes suddenly rolled back and her lips curled back to expose the full length of her fangs, but Aubrey only saw them for a moment; they plunged deep into her inner thigh and she yelped, following it up with a minute sob. Her teeth were red-hot and they'd just gone straight into her femoral artery. Beca started sucking and Aubrey writhed against the bed with another cry, feeling hot blood seeping past her lips to pool below her. Chloe moved quickly to gently kiss her face, stroking her jaw line and murmuring sweet nothings near her ear. To still her thrashing some Beca grabbed her by the hips, digging her claws in. Aubrey pressed her face to Chloe's neck as the tears started to leak down her cheeks.

But just like that, it was over. Beca released her thigh with a gasp like she'd just been underwater too long, and Aubrey peeked out of the curtain of Chloe's hair. Her eyes were wild and there was blood dripping from her chin.

"Are you okay?" she practically wheezed, crawling up her body.

Aubrey nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. Her breath hitched with another small sob and she wrapped an arm around Beca's neck, pulling her down to her chest along with Chloe. To her amazement it didn't feel like she was still bleeding though the blankets were soaked.

Throughout the pain and the smarting heat she could feel in her thigh, she was pretty sure she had never been more turned on before in her life. It didn't help that she could practically feel the thrumming vibrations of Chloe's body next to her, her hips jerking and bringing her closer to the unharmed thigh she was straddling. A sudden fog encroached Aubrey's mind and senses and she swore her heart really did stop beating for just a second.

Beca was still wheezing, her gaze now fixed hungrily on Chloe. The redhead was staring right back as she continued to stroke Aubrey's face. "Are you ready?" Beca asked, voice gravelly and not sounding altogether human.

Chloe groaned. "Yes."

Again, it happened in an instant. One moment Beca was hovering over Aubrey, the next she was spinning Chloe onto her back and sinking her teeth into her already spread thigh, eyes rolled back again. Chloe yelped, arching off the bed, and Aubrey rolled over with a slight wince to hold her and shush her. The bite in her own thigh suddenly started hurting just like it had when Beca's fangs were in her and she groaned, the heat spiking up into her lower abdomen and making her entire body quake violently. Chloe abruptly went silent and just like that Beca was hovering over the both of them, one hand positioned behind Aubrey's back and the other next to Chloe's waist. All of a sudden she looked _really_ worried and in the blink of eye changed out of her vampire form, which didn't do anything about all the blood but definitely helped Aubrey's body start to calm down. With whatever strength she still felt she had she propped herself up some to look at Chloe's face; she wasn't moving and her eyes were closed.

"Beca!" Aubrey yelped, jumping up onto her knees and giving Chloe a shake. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned weakly.

"Chloe, shit, are you okay?" Beca practically squeaked. "That was too much, I shouldn't have - you're a werewolf, not a human, I didn't think about-"

"I'm fine," Chloe grunted. A grin snapped across her face. "I just got overwhelmed feeling the both of you. Did I kinda pass out?"

"Kind of?" Aubrey laid down, face pressed into the pillow, and let out a sound that could very well have been a laugh but was more like a sob. "God, Chlo, you scared me. Are you going to be okay or... should we stop?" Even as the words came out of her mouth she wanted to take them right back, afraid that she might literally combust if nobody did something about this heat she felt pooling between her thighs. And it wasn't more blood.

Cooler hands turned her onto her back and she met two pairs of silver and blue eyes. "Absolutely not," Chloe half-growled, and Aubrey could practically see her throat rumbling. "I need to be with you both _right now_."

Aubrey smirked, sitting up and leading Beca and Chloe up with her. She latched her mouth onto Beca's, sliding her hand down Chloe's taut torso and delighting in the way it jumped under her touch. The fog returned and she wasn't quite sure how they managed to become completely unclothed but she was busy feeling Chloe against her palm, her forehead pressed to the crook of Beca's neck and shoulder, Beca's fingers inside her, and from the sounds of it Chloe was taking care of the brunette while pressing her face into Aubrey's hair and Beca was essentially baring her teeth against the redhead's collarbones.

Aubrey's body felt like it was on fire but she was fairly sure she was actually freezing.

For once Beca was emitting something close to heat as well, low gasps of breath hitching out every now and again.

Chloe had stopped vibrating and started scratching at any inch of skin she could reach.

The building of heat at the apex of Aubrey's thighs was almost beginning to hurt, and she couldn't imagine she could take this much longer without release being in sight. Just as the thought stumbled into her mind, though, Beca hit the perfect spot and she abruptly unraveled, spreading her fingers in Chloe and feeling her walls clamp around them at the same time Beca let out a long, low groan. Aubrey wailed, some sensation she could hardly believe or really describe washing over her in wave after wave, making her feel like she was drowning in pleasure. She blinked around black bubbles on the edges of her vision until finally, finally, she started to come down from the intense high.

The three of them fell down onto the bed, Aubrey and Chloe gasping for air while Beca's body in between them quickly and noticeably cooled back down to its usual temperature. Struggling to get her mind back to a functioning capacity, Aubrey realized she felt... different. Like she and Chloe really did belong to Beca and that she was closer to the two of them than she ever had been, than she ever would be and yet continue to be.

"Holy shit," Beca moaned, her face pressed into the duvet. Chloe giggled and Aubrey grinned tiredly, her body spent.

"Did you both feel that?" Chloe whispered. Her eyes were shut. She panted a few moments longer, steadily catching her breath before adding, "Could you feel how each other felt, how I felt? It was super intense, right?"

"I haven't felt that alive in centuries," Beca grunted. She picked her head up to look at them and out of the corner of her eye Aubrey saw Chloe open hers. "And fuck, but your blood, both of you, I just - _wow_ , for one thing, and I've never tasted werewolf blood before and it was really - well, you taste good. Both of you."

"Oh, god," Aubrey laughed, covering half her face with her free hand, the other one trapped by Chloe's underneath Beca's stomach. "I love you both so much."

"I love you," Beca sighed.

"And I love you! So much!" Chloe squealed, peppering kisses everywhere she could reach before falling back onto the bed. For once she seemed just as exhausted as Aubrey felt, and possibly Beca as well, and that was a feat in and of itself.

They laid there in silence until Aubrey could hardly keep her eyes open, despite wanting to get out of the slightly sticky mess they were lying in, but Beca and Chloe seemed content to stay where they were. And so was she, as long as she was in their arms.

She couldn't believe how fortunate she was to have the two of them in her life, and to be as close to them as she was. Nothing, _nothing_ could spoil this.

* * *

 _A/N: Well happy one year anniversary to And I Am Happy Now!  
_

 _It's been a wild ride tbh. This is my first story on fanfic net and I'm very thankful for the support you all, my lovely readers, have given me._

 _I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. I will say I'm not great at nor am I super like chill about writing sex scenes - at least not just for the sake of smut - but I thought it was necessary here as a part of our girls getting closer to each other and taking the next step in their relationship. Probs won't have too many scenes like this unless I deem it necessary for character development, simply because of my comfort level with it. Not to say this is the one and only scene like this, I have other things planned *suggestive eyebrow waggle*_

 _But anyway, thank you all for sticking with this story for so long (a whole year! goddamn). Please keep reviewing, favoriting and following! Till next time~_


	31. Chapter XXXI

**\+ XXXI +**

Out of the few performances they'd had so far this year, Chloe knew none of them had been as well attended as this freaking _car show_ Das Sound Machine was performing at. She stood with the rest of the Bellas around two or so small tables, waiting for the German group to come on and fidgeting from the sensation of Aubrey's anxiety - it was never really something she wanted to feel, mostly because she sympathized so strongly for the blonde now that she literally knew how bad it got. On the other hand, Beca was all cool and collected, albeit amused and excited to see the Kommissar again.

The show started. The screens, the tightness to the group, their leather outfits - all of it practically put Chloe to shame and she scowled at them as they went across the stage, jealous.

The Bellas had been having a rough start to the year. Despite their overall really good _sound_ they were awfully out of sync, and during one show that had nearly beaten out the vomiting incident on Aubrey's list of embarrassments had made it so they couldn't have performed in the more local competitions even if they wanted to. The (admittedly weird) a cappella announcers who apparently even worked at Barden University, John Smith and Gail Abernathy-McKadden-Feinberger, had banned them from finals and said that if they didn't get their stuff together the Barden Bellas would be disbanded. Well, not quite in those words. They'd essentially been disbanded for all of about three minutes while Aubrey and Chloe adamantly argued with them and asked that, if they won Worlds, would they be able to continue the Bellas? Because there was no way they were just going to let the Bellas be broken up, no matter whether or not some of them - well, Aubrey and Chloe - were graduating this year. John Smith and Gail - Chloe wasn't going to bother with her last name again, geez - had accepted the bargain of sorts amidst condescending laughter.

" _No team from the US wins Worlds_!" Gail had practically cackled.

Chloe rolled her eyes to herself. Okay, so teams like Das Sound Machine were certainly going to make it _harder_ , but she would be damned if she didn't bring herself and the Bellas to victory. That's why they were _here_. DSM were going _down_.

But first it would probably help if the Bellas figured out why they were so out of sync.

With the show over, Chloe noticed the Kommissar stepping off the stage along with the young man who always seemed to be at her side - his name was Pieter, right? - and heading right towards the Bellas, while the rest of DSM spread out into the rather thick crowd. Chloe nudged both Aubrey and Beca on either side of her and jerked her chin to indicate the German pair approaching them. She liked the Kommissar, she really did, but the Bellas were at stake here. Not to say she was going to be mean, god no, she just wanted the other vampire to know how serious they were about winning Worlds!

"Ah, _guten tag_!" the Kommissar greeted them, grinning widely. Beside her, Pieter shot her a look, perhaps picking up on the way she sounded genuinely happy to see them as opposed to giving them a harder time time. Based on their first interaction Chloe was pretty sure he didn't like them nearly as much. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"Yeah, it was annoyingly awesome," Beca huffed. Her own grin was screwed up in half of a slightly unsure grimace.

Pieter laughed. "Still think you Barden Bellas can beat us at Worlds?"

"We're going to," Chloe said, tilting her chin up.

"Pieter, I am wondering," the Kommissar began, placing a hand on his shoulder, "should we give these darling Bellas some advice?"

He nodded, over-exaggerated, and Chloe instantly knew what they were talking about - she had half a mind to grab Aubrey's hand now in anticipation. "Ah, yes," Pieter snickered. "You seemed to have a hard time at your last performance. I'm glad I didn't watch, else I would have gotten too much of an eyeful of your friend's, how you say... down-under."

Aubrey's eyes widened in mortification and now Chloe _did_ take her hand, squeezing it and willing her not to lose her temper. Green eyes flicked over to her direction and Aubrey took a noticeable deep breath. "The Bellas are very good at learning from our mistakes," she said lowly, tone clipped. "It's what helps us grow as a group, and what pulls all of us closer. We are a sisterhood, not just an a cappella group. That makes us stronger than _you_."

"You tell 'em, Aubrey!" Cynthia-Rose bellowed, and Chloe glanced around in slight surprise; she'd been so focused on the German duo that she hadn't even noticed the rest of the Bellas cluster closer to the three of them in quiet support. (To her defense, the room they were in was really loud and all of her acute senses were currently rather overwhelmed.)

Pieter scoffed, but the Kommissar held up a hand. "We are only giving you a hard time. I believe you are all going to be very formidable competition when the time comes," she said. Aubrey relaxed with a thankful smile and Chloe let go of her hand. She was about to turn to the rest of the Bellas and announce their departure but something in her stirred, making her uncomfortable for a moment and then really _weird_. It took her a second to realize it was coming from Beca, not herself, and she focused back on the brunette. The Kommissar had leaned down to her and was whispering something brief in her ear, something so low even Chloe didn't hear it no matter how hard she tuned her ears to the Kommissar's distinct, accented voice. With a nod and a smile around to the rest of them she and Pieter walked away.

"I gotta pee, I'll be right back," Beca said, to no one in particular, and promptly vanished into the thick of the crowd.

Chloe watched after her for a moment. Turning to Aubrey, she tugged the blonde's arm to pull her attention away from whatever she was looking at. "Did you see that?" she asked, leaning in closer so the others were less likely to eavesdrop.

"What?" Aubrey asked.

"The Kommissar and Beca. I think something's going on. I can feel Beca's anxiety, and it's stronger than I've ever felt it. We need to go find her."

Aubrey simply nodded, frowning now in concern, and they slipped away from the group hand in hand in the direction of the bathrooms. Chloe just hoped that was really where Beca had gone; they found them and went in to discover the brunette and her fellow vampire standing against the farthest wall, whispering to each other. They looked up the second the door opened and Beca shot her two girlfriends a scowl of apprehension. The Kommissar's expression didn't change whatsoever - she merely blinked.

"Everything okay?" Aubrey asked. She went to the sinks and washed her hands with an air of nonchalance, but Chloe knew on the inside she was starting to feel on edge.

"It is up to Beca to say," the Kommissar huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Beca scowled at her with narrowed eyes. "It's just, uh, you know. _Our_ drama. All that crap with Ned and Vivianne finally got it's i's dotted and t's crossed, and the King and Queen are stepping down officially by the end of the week. That means we need a new leader or two."

"And they have invited a select few of us to run for the position, it being a vote," the Kommissar said. "I was informing Beca, on behalf of King Darragh, that she is one of those few."

"What?" Aubrey and Chloe gasped simultaneously, but with drastically different tones.

"Goddammit," Beca hissed with a roll of her eyes. "It doesn't _really_ mean anything, okay? You guys don't have to freak out over it. I'll probably just talk to Nadine about it and see if it's actually something I want to... look into, I guess. This doesn't - it's really not like I've just been specifically asked to be the new Queen of our Clan."

The Kommissar scoffed. "It kind of is," she muttered.

"Beca, this is huge!" Aubrey said. She was much more excited, and Chloe didn't need to be able to feel what she felt to be sure of that. "Think of all the things you could change!"

"What do you mean?" Beca half-whined, nose scrunching up.

"For starters, you could help along relationships with werewolves, and maybe the politics between all of you will be the best it's been." Aubrey shrugged, smiling adorably, but Chloe couldn't quite get on her boat. She was inexplicably nervous about this - maybe it just had to do with how little she trusted most things involving Ned and Vivianne after what happened over the summer; it could also be her own aversion to the idea of positions of power within her own pack, which ran in her own family; or she figured it might have to do with the fact that she really didn't see things going as smoothly as Aubrey apparently thought they would or at least _might_. "Think about it," the blonde continued. "You're in a relationship with both a human _and_ a werewolf - isn't that a little revolutionary?"

Beca's gaze shot to Chloe and the redhead simply ducked her head. "Yeah, I guess so," she snarled. "So part of our Clan will be in support of us and the rest will want all three of us dead. Politics are still politics, Bree, be it vampire or werewolf or human, and they're almost always ugly. I don't really know if I want any part in that."

"I am just letting you know," the Kommissar cut in. "Nadine expects a visit soon. Being your sire, she will be helping you through all of this whether or not you decide to participate. You in no way need to give me an answer right now."

"Thanks, Kommissar," Beca muttered, deflating. "I just... this is _insane_ -"

The door opened again, causing Aubrey to jump and Beca and the Kommissar to snap their heads around in something near panic, but Chloe just smiled slightly. She'd picked up Emily's scent before the young brunette even got to the door. She came in humming to herself, though she abruptly stopped upon finding them all there. Her mouth fumbled open and she let out a long "ehh?" sound in replacement of actually asking if she should be here at all, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at the door easing shut behind her.

"Hallo, Emily," the Kommissar said. A bright glimmer danced in her eyes and she smiled softly, instantly pushing herself off the wall she was leaning against to walk up to the young brunette. As she did with everyone, the German woman towered over her with her height advantage. "Did you enjoy the show?" she asked.

Emily nodded, cheeks turning pink in a blush - Chloe arched an eyebrow and quickly looked back to Beca, who was just staring at the two of them with a bemused expression. "Oh, yeah, it was really awesome!" Emily gushed. "That stuff with the screens was really smart, and your - your outfits are really - I dunno, you look good in them." A nervous peal of laughter leapt from her lips. "I-I'm still a little surprised you're actually in Das Sound Machine. I never would have thought you'd actually do something I suggested. It's fun though, right?"

The Kommissar grinned toothily and Chloe noticed Emily's gaze linger. "Yes, I like it very much. I am glad I listened to you, _meine geliebte_."

Chloe already figured the two of them were fairly close based on their interactions first during half their boat ride from Romania to Turkey and then again when they went to talk to the vampire king and queen in Ireland. She'd also asked Beca about it once and knew that those certainly weren't the _only_ times, and that Beca had noticed it as well. She was relatively sure, though, that this whole flirting thing the Kommissar seemed to be doing was a little new. Despite her anxiety revolving around Beca's apparent call to run for the election of queen, which was partially Beca's anxiety as well, she found it funny to see the German vampire and their new Bella sister acting like this. She stifled a giggle.

Emily was just staring at the Kommissar, mouth parted slightly, but she shook herself a little and let out a whooshing breath. "Uh, oh, gosh, I came in here to pee," she giggled in another show of nervousness. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, you all look like you were just having a pretty serious conversation."

"Just a resolution with Ned and Vivianne," Beca replied. She grimaced. "Kinda."

"Seriously? I'll admit, I sort of forgot about that," Emily murmured. "Is it super serious? I have no idea what's been going on at all... Kommissar is more a fan of exchanging actual letters, not email or phone numbers."

Chloe nearly had to slap a hand over her mouth to stop herself from letting out a literal coo at their cuteness.

Beca smirked, but it quickly faded. "I'm not sure currently what their fate is, but it's most likely banishment. As for the king and queen, they're stepping down and there's gonna be an election to choose the next pair, or maybe just one or the other. Depends on who's running. I mean-" she rolled her eyes lavishly "-if I actually do - not that I'm saying I will! - I'm not going to ask Chloe _or_ Aubrey to rule with me. It'd be too difficult to figure out since they aren't vampires and... and it's just a mess. But whatever, I probably won't even do it." She averted her gaze downwards and Chloe could feel her hesitance. Usually the redhead didn't pay too much specific attention to whatever her girlfriends were feeling, in respect of their privacy, but sometimes it was too obvious. A good part of her wanted to take Beca and Aubrey by the hand and leave immediately, with or without the rest of the Bellas. This was just really too important to gloss over and she realized - with a bit of resignation - that the three of them needed to discuss it. And maybe her own potential of leading her pack one day.

 _Great, and all this on top of the Bellas being laughably out of sync with Worlds coming up faster than any of us want it to_ , she thought sarcastically, repressing a growl. _Annnd the full moon is next week. What a grand ol' time_.

"Wow," Emily practically whistled, looking back and forth from Beca to the Kommissar with raised eyebrows. "That's pretty intense. Are you guys doing alright?"

While the Kommissar looked positively warmed, Beca simply smiled. "I'm good, Em."

"It's good to see them being punished the way they deserve to be," the Kommissar said. "They planned to do terrible things, and we mustn't forget what they _did_ do to Chloe. _Absolut verachtenswert_. But I digress." She once again smiled around at all of them, lingering though on Emily. "I must return to DSM. We must rest up for our next performance. I would invite you, but it is all very top-secret. I hope to see you there regardless." Brushing past Emily for the door, she gave the young brunette a wink. Emily practically swooned.

"Damn, what's with you and that tall drink of water, hm?" Beca snorted the second her fellow vampire was gone.

Emily jumped out of her skin. "Wh-what do you mean?" she spluttered. "Nothing - we're just still good friends, even after all that with Ned and Vivianne! ...I have to pee." She hurried into one of the stalls, face red as a beet. This time Chloe didn't bother holding back a coo.

Aubrey ushered her and Beca outside, expression mostly thoughtful. Chloe assumed she was going to insist they talk more about what just happened right then and there and was quietly thankful she continued walking back in the direction of the show room. They rejoined the rest of the Bellas and waited for Emily to come out. Whatever conversation they'd been having died down a little as their caption and co-caption approached, Beca nonchalantly and rather slowly following on their heels.

"What did all of you think of Das Sound Machine?" Aubrey asked.

"Do we really have a chance against them?" Stacie grumbled. "You saw them. Not in a million years do I think we could pull off something _that_ cool!"

"We just need to find our sound again," Chloe said, as reassuringly as she could possibly muster in this loud, over-stimulating environment.

"Any ideas _how_ we do that, red?" Fat Amy huffed.

Chloe had none, so she turned to Aubrey. The blonde actually smiled, still with that thoughtful expression on her face. "I might have a few," she said vaguely. "Let's leave as soon as Emily comes back out. I have a lot of stuff to do now."

* * *

"Chlo, I know you're not feeling too great, but you have to look at this."

Groaning, Chloe forced herself to at least roll onto her side. She was lying in bed, sick as a dog with those pre-turning side effects. And yes, pun intended. Aubrey stood at the side of their king sized bed, placed right under the window against the wall opposite their bedroom door and in the middle. It very nicely lighted the whole room with natural sunlight, though Beca could probably do without that (which was why they had some pretty heavy duty curtains, currently pulled to the side because Beca was downstairs with the other Bellas). It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday so everyone was relaxing aside from Chloe, who felt approximately like dying. It didn't particularly help that Aubrey was trying to show her the plans she was making for them to rediscover their lacking sound and unity.

"What is it?" she asked.

Aubrey turned the laptop in her hands a bit so she could look at the screen. "It's this retreat all these companies usually go to for team-building. It looks perfect - in the forest, located by a lake... we can camp, which is even more bonding, and do some of the things they offer or instruct in. And not too bad a price. My daddy recommended it to me, he said he goes there with his friends in the firm when they're having a rough patch. He can get us a discount-"

"That's awesome, Bree. Let's do it," Chloe mumbled, turning back onto her stomach. "Sorry I'm not more excited, I just... well, you know."

She heard the laptop click shut. "I understand. Just get some sleep, and let either Beca or I know when you're going to head out," Aubrey said softly. There was a rustle of sheets, a dip of extra weight on the bed, and Chloe felt the blonde's lips kiss the back of her head. She hummed in tired appreciation and Aubrey chuckled lightly. "Get some rest, for now."

Alone in their room now, Chloe was left with her anxieties about numerous things; the three of them had talked about the news Beca had been given about running for the position of queen, before she went to discuss it with Nadine, but that was really as far as they'd gotten. Beca wasn't too excited to talk about it other than what they'd discussed, which revolved mostly around the intricacies of it all. She couldn't run with either of them as her other queen, not because of their same-sex relationship (not really, anyway) but because Chloe was a werewolf and Aubrey was a human. The vampire community just probably wasn't ready for that, and Chloe understood completely. But it apparently wasn't too recommended to have a single ruler, which was why mates typically ran together. Beca was the only single candidate. According to Nadine, all the others were either already mates or in the process of becoming them. She'd said that, overall, that probably gave them the advantage right off the bat. It didn't seem to matter a whole ton to Beca because she still didn't seem too enthralled by the idea.

Other than that, Chloe was mostly just worried about turning tonight. It was much trickier living in this house; she had to make sure she got out long before things really started shifting within her, not just to be certain about the Bellas' safety. Ever since the summer she'd noticed her turnings had been ever so slightly different each time, and sometimes she just felt utterly out of control. Most of the time, though, the balance between some sense of human and wolf seemed to be teetering more than it should. Usually Chloe was able to remember pretty much everything that happened the night of a full moon, but lately that hadn't been the case. She was getting these black stretches of time wherein she remembered _nothing_ , and that worried her to no end. What was she doing in that time? Part of her was considering doing something like Red Riding Hood did in that one episode of _Once Upon a Time_ wherein she chained Peter to a tree because they thought he was the wolf. Turned out to be Red, and she ate him, but the idea in and of itself hadn't been the worst. The house even had a basement they all joked was haunted, and Chloe didn't think it'd be too hard to convert into a space where she could have a more controlled turn. It wouldn't be fun for her, and it would probably just confirm suspicions of a haunting (they were all a little spooked regardless of the jokes and none of them dared go down there), but she'd be willing to make that sacrifice.

She'd talked to the therapist she saw in the wake of what happened over the summer, but they hadn't been able to give her any answers other than saying it probably had more than a little to do with the medications she'd been given to forcefully turn her. It didn't seem like any act of love could actually get rid of those effects completely. And her therapist was the only one who knew, because Chloe was worried that if she told her mother she would essentially be forced to leave Barden and come home until they figured out how to get her under control. Before something bad happened.

Because an adult werewolf who couldn't control their turns was nothing but danger.

Chloe got up on her hands and knees and shook herself, like doing so would shake all these thoughts away. Turnings were supposed to be pretty enjoyable - she could be her true self for one night, even if it was also kind of a pain in the _butt_. A gift and a curse or however that saying went. She just wished, not for the first time today, that she hadn't come up with the idea of buying this house. It hadn't been so bad at first but now she was feeling a whole lot worse about her abilities of self-control, and she couldn't put her finger on why.

Slumping off the bed, she decided she'd head downstairs and try to be social until she had to go. She could hear the Bellas being pretty raucous and assumed they were drinking; her suspicions were confirmed by the smell of alcohol she got as she approached the living room.

"Oh, Chloe! Come join us!" Stacie called, waving her over from her spot on the floor.

"You just missed Amy doing a whole line of shots," Ashley said. She had wide eyes and she pointed at the row of shot glasses spanning the entire longest side of the coffee table.

Chloe grinned in amusement. "I don't have to see that to believe it," she laughed. Sitting down on the couch next to Cynthia-Rose, she tried to completely ignore the bad feeling in her gut. All she had to do was take care of things the way she usually did; what could go wrong? In all honestly she'd been having a really good year in terms of werewolf things, just the kind of scary feelings of less control was the only part hanging over her head like a threat.

"Did _you_ know Emily is on a date?" Aubrey asked her.

"What?" Chloe said, instantly perking up a little more. "With _who_?"

"That smokin' German lady," Amy answered.

Chloe gasped loudly. "No _way_!"

"Okay, hold on," Beca interjected with her hands raised, a coy smirk tugging at her lips and showing off her teeth. "She didn't say it's a _date_ , just that they were hanging out. But... yeah, it's probably basically a date."

"That's so cute!" Chloe gushed. "And so perfect!"

"Beca, how is it again that you know her?" Cynthia-Rose asked. "'Cause if I knew a woman like that, I would be introducing her to literally everyone I know."

"Jealous?" Beca snorted. She shook her head and shrugged. "We met in high school. She came to my school for a year of studying abroad, from Germany, of course," she explained, using the same lie she'd given Aubrey's parents.

Cynthia-Rose tsked and shook her head as well. "Man, Emily must have some _game_."

"You want some, Chlo?" Stacie piped up, pouring vodka into the emptied shot glasses Fat Amy had totally decimated (Chloe assumed, simply because she knew the Australian).

"I'm good, thanks. Still not feeling very well."

Stacie rolled her eyes and grinned. "Come on, alcohol's good for you."

"That is a _gross_ lie!" Aubrey practically cried.

The Bellas burst into laughter.

A handful of hours passed and Chloe soon became mesmerized by the setting of the sun. She knew it was time to go, sooner rather than later. She stood and it was almost like doing so triggered the doorbell to ring; her nose twitched at the smells she gathered, recognizing Emily and the Kommissar and surprised to note they were with at least two other people she was sure she knew from somewhere, along with three others she didn't. Since she was up she figured it would be easiest for her to go and answer it.

As she turned the knob and opened the door, she recognized those other two scents.

Gus and Orion, the two vampires who had helped hold her captive in Vivianne's castle.

It was too late to close the door, and besides, she was immediately scared out of her _mind_ for Emily and the Kommissar. They stood there, the five other vampires behind them.

Emily visibly - and audibly - swallowed, looking immensely awkward. "Hey, uh, Chloe," she said shakily. Beside her, the Kommissar's face was completely stoic. "So... these lovely people would very much like to come in and have a little chat with Beca."

Chloe's gaze flicked to the five vampires flanking them. Other than Gus and Orion, there was one woman and two more men, all seeming to be similar stature to the two body guards or torturers or whoever the hell Gus and Orion _were_. Probably like how she assumed the Kommissar to be, they were trained in combat. They looked like they could snap a human in half without a hint of trouble, and she didn't doubt they could give a turned werewolf a hard time as well. She stayed silent and simply stepped to the side to let them in - first Emily and the Kommissar, followed by the vampires. She could smell gun powder and metal on all of them.

One grabbed her as he passed, wrenching her forward so she couldn't get the chance to run out the front door. They followed the rest into the living room, where the conversation had already died into complete silence. Individual breathing could be heard. Chloe sought Beca out and found her standing, eyes flashing silver in appalled anger. Nobody else noticed, they were too busy looking to Emily in worry and their guests in nothing more than confusion.

Aubrey slowly stood as well. "If you all don't get out of our house I'm calling the police," she spat. Chloe was proud of her for the way her voice didn't even waver.

"Or I'll kick you out myself," Beca snarled.

Gus sneered at her and Orion bared his teeth - already sharp - at him in turn, an obvious order to keep quiet. "I'm afraid we're not going anywhere," he growled back. "We have business to finish up, and more to start. So, for now, why don't we just sit and chat? We don't even really have to do anything to put part of this into motion." A really nasty grin bloomed across his features, showing off all his pointed, vampiric teeth. Chloe sensed a ripple of even more confused discomfort run through the Bellas.

"Back off," Beca snapped. "I know you two work for Vivianne and Ned - I know _exactly_ who you are. Why aren't you at least in jail?"

"It's all part of the plan," Gus chortled. Orion hissed loudly at him.

"What plan is that? Gonna assassinate-" Beca abruptly cut herself off, eyes widening and quickly turning back to their steel blue as she glanced around the room. Everyone was staring at her. Chloe knew she was probably hesitant to say much of anything in front of the Bellas but she also didn't think there was any way to avoid it in this situation.

Gus sneered again. "Don't wanna come clean to your little human buddies?"

"And what are you, then?" Amy interjected.

"That doesn't matter," Orion said, voice rising. "This bitch is going to tear your human friend to shreds-" he pointed from Chloe to Aubrey "-and you're going to die, Beca. This revolution is happening whether you like it or not."

"Revolution? You've got to be kidding me," Beca scoffed. "All your precious _previous_ Prince and Princess want to do is start all these political wars. And it won't _work_."

"That's what you think," Orion hissed.

"I'm really at a loss here," Cynthia-Rose said, scowling from him to Beca and back again. "What kind of white nonsense is this? Or is it just method acting? If it is, well then, _damn_! But I don't think I appreciate gettin' dragged into it."

Orion bared his teeth at her. "Where did you get those fake fangs?" Stacie asked.

"I can't believe all of you are so relaxed about this!" Emily cried out before the vampire could offer the taller brunette a surely mean response. "This isn't acting, this is serious!"

"Then what is it, exactly?" Jessica asked.

"In my village there was talk of people whose eye color could change like that," Flo said, eyeing Orion sideways, looking very suspicious. "Rumor was they were vampires. I was told to stay away from them as a child - otherwise I'd get my blood drained. And die."

"Somebody taught you right," the female vampire snarled.

A few moments of silence settled over the room, the confusion practically tangible. Both Beca and Aubrey were looking pretty uncertain, but Chloe couldn't pay them much attention. The sun had fully set and she knew everyone was going to be in pretty bad trouble if she didn't manage to get out of here before she turned. And how was she supposed to get out? The vampires were blocking all exits, not to mention the one still holding her by the arm had a gun pressed into her side. And she got the feeling that if she moved and he didn't shoot _her_ , Gus or Orion would shoot Emily or the Kommissar. She could also only assume all their bullets were silver and that wasn't appealing on any account.

She was starting to feel lightheaded and a little sweaty, her chest rising and falling with breaths becoming quicker by the second. Orion noticed the slight change but made no comment, seemingly content on waiting for the other Bellas to come to whatever conclusion they were going to reach. On the other hand, Beca's gaze snapped onto her, realization overshadowed by horror. Her mouth popped open only for her to be interrupted.

"Are y'all saying you're vampires?" Cynthia-Rose guffawed. "I'm callin' bullshit, and I call it on your little acting show, too." She stood from the couch and made it all of two steps towards the blocked archway; the other male vampire not holding onto Chloe surged forward, morphing into his vampire form at the same time. He snapped at air - Cynthia-Rose recoiled and tripped over her own feet with an exclamation of "oh, _shit_!" and landed back on the couch, partially sprawled across Lily's lap - and hissed threateningly at her.

"Jesus Christ!" Stacie screamed. "Okay, _what_ the hell-"

"Get away from her!" Beca bellowed, appearing in between the other vampire and the couch to give him a harsh shove backwards. Her eyes had reverted back to silver and her teeth were sharp, visible from the way her lips were curled back.

A wave of dizziness washed over Chloe. Her time was running out. She probably only had a matter of minutes and she could _feel_ things weren't going to go well - what had they _done_ to her? It couldn't possibly still be from what they gave her over the summer.

She heard Orion laugh, but it seemed really far away. "Look at your puppy friend! I bet she's been having a hard time with her turnings, huh? The Princess really came up with a great cocktail. It doesn't matter that you were able to get her to change back the first time - she's going to kill you now for sure!"

"That shit you did to her couldn't possibly be effecting her still!" Beca snapped back.

Gus scoffed. "It ain't our job to understand _how_ this works, we just make sure that it _does_ ," he snarled. He tugged Emily closer to the front of his body, eliciting a squeak from the young brunette, and in an instant he too was in his vampire form. Leaning around her, he angled his face closer to her exposed neck and pointedly licked his fangs. "I've been listening to this little one's heartbeat go crazy this whole time, and I gotta admit, it's driving me _batty_." He snickered at his own stupid joke. "Think I might satiate my hunger... she is, after all, a traitor."

"Get your filthy fangs away from her!" the Kommissar snarled viciously, eyes purple.

"Hey, if you-"

Chloe unintentionally interrupted Beca with a loud groan; her knees buckled and she fell, catching her weight with her hands. Her back arched painfully and she let out a terribly animalistic growl. Vision wavering, she looked up and tried to seek out Beca or Aubrey - or both, with any luck - but she couldn't find either. The human part of her was receding worse than it had since this summer, screaming and scrabbling for purchase amidst the cloying animal within her. The beast. The monster. All to no avail.

When she turned, it would be nothing but the wolf.

Her last moments of consciousness were filled with an earth-shattering fear.

* * *

 _A/N: Happy holidays, everyone!_

 _The rest of October and all of November were pretty busy for me school- and life-wise, so I apologize for taking awhile to update._

 _I'll be coming back to who's taking the role of King and Queen in the vampire community, and also Chloe potentially being leader of her own pack, but for now, have some drama! And maybe some angst coming up! sorrynotsorry. Please remember to review, favorite, and follow! Till next time, which will hopefully be sooner~_


	32. Chapter XXXII

**\+ XXXII +**

Beca watched with dismay as Chloe started to turn - fur covered her skin, tinged just a little red around her head, she grew claws, and her face lengthened into a snout. She seemed skinnier than the last time Beca had seen her in her werewolf form, fur not quite as thick. Honestly, she looked a lot more like the _Harry Potter_ version of werewolves, which Beca had come to understand wasn't _really_ accurate most of the time. Mostly because wolves had tails. And did that really matter right now? No, it did not, especially since Chloe was rounding on the vampire who had just been pressing a gun into her side, jaws gaping in a roar. She leapt at him before he could get away, tearing into his chest as he screamed in surprise and pain.

"Shit!" Beca hissed. She quickly morphed into her vampire form, ready to fend Chloe away from the rest of the Bellas if she had to. More screams of panic drowned out her curse and everyone scrambled as far away from Chloe as they could get; even Gus and Orion, the two vampires Beca recognized as Ned and Vivianne's muscle help, quickly backed up with Emily and the Kommissar still in their hands.

Beca didn't know what to do. If Chloe was still being effected by those pills they were feeding her in Romania, that meant this was no typical turning for her...

Not that any of them could have forced her to turn back until the sun rose, anyway.

The vampire she was currently ripping to shreds, seeming unable to decide whether or not she wanted to, well... eat him... had gone silent, officially deader than dead. Beca inched closer, ushering Fat Amy and Flo behind her. Aubrey was the only one still standing fairly close to Chloe; her eyes were blown wide and she was shaking badly. Beca realized that from where she was standing she had a pretty perfect few of Chloe tearing that vampire up. She carefully reached out and grabbed the blonde by the upper arm, meaning to pull her back.

Her touch got Aubrey to snap out of her slight daze and she immediately wrenched her arm out of Beca's grip. "Chloe, you have to-"

Chloe whirled around and Aubrey interrupted herself with a pitiful squeak. Blood and gore dripped from Chloe's bared teeth and she stared intently at Aubrey, purposefully turning to face her. Beca stepped in between the two. "She isn't going to be able to hear you this time, Bree," she hissed, watching Chloe with the utmost care and caution. "Nothing but the sun can stop a regular turning, and if she's still somehow amped up on those drugs they gave her..." She trailed off there, not wanting to go further. Some things were better left unsaid.

"That's right," Orion growled from somewhere behind her. "Just give up now - it'd be easier for all of you if you just let fate take its course."

Chloe's bright blue eyes flicked briefly in his direction.

 _That's it_ , Beca thought. _Just have to get her to go after one of them... as awful as that is... but she'd hate herself more if she killed one of us_. And who knew, maybe Aubrey really was onto something trying to get through to Chloe. Shifting closer, Beca held her hand out like she usually would if she was approaching a dog (although most animals were weary of her because of what she was) and made it clear she was little threat. Chloe laid her ears back atop her head and her lips curled back even more, making her eyes crinkle around the edges; a rumbling growl ricocheted up her throat. Other than that she didn't move.

"Chloe," Beca breathed, "I need you to listen to me. Please, please, just - it's me, Beca, and Aubrey's right here. We just want you to - we _need_ you to find yourself in there before you hurt someone other than the assholes currently invading our house."

"She can't hear you!" Gus hissed. She paid him no mind but noticed the way Chloe glanced in his direction as well.

"We know you're there," Aubrey tacked on, and Beca sensed her leaning forward.

"Aubrey, stay back," she whispered sharply.

"We both need to talk to her if this is going to work, Beca!"

"It isn't going to work! You fuckin' bitches, just die already! I've had enough of you!" Gus practically shrieked, voice cracking halfway through.

The volume of it really seemed to get Chloe's attention; she turned towards him and lunged, jaws gaping open. He screamed in fear and pushed the Kommissar in front of himself. The German vampire moved with the push and fell down to the floor so Chloe went sailing over her, catching Gus right as he tried to run to the side. They went tumbling into the wall, making a big hole in the plaster. Orion's face flashed with panic and he suddenly disappeared along with the remaining two vampires he came with - Beca caught sight of them reappear closer to the front door, watching from a safe distance. In the meantime the Bellas all went running for the only exit as more sounds of crunching bones and dying screams filled the living room.

"What the _shit_!" Cynthia-Rose bellowed, overshadowing the shrieks of fear most of the Bellas were now reacting with as they escaped.

Beca knew this was dissolving fast. Two out of the five vampires were dead and she knew more were to follow as long as she was able to keep Chloe focused on _them_ and not any of the Bellas - but maybe she was going about this all wrong. She couldn't rely on being able to get through to Chloe like she and Aubrey had been able to on the beach. So, grabbing Aubrey and hoisting the blonde up and over her shoulder, she quickly ran them through the house and to the back porch. She didn't wait for the high-pitched argue Aubrey was certain to give her and ran back in to grab the Bellas two at a time and deposit them out there with their captain.

"Get out of here!" she shouted, ushering them away from the back door. "You're all in danger, _leave_! Hurry up before those assholes-"

A deep roar interrupted her, and she had just enough time to turn before she was slammed down to the hard, relatively rough surface of the porch, Orion's full weight on top of her. On instinct she bared her teeth in his face and snapped and clawed at everything she could reach - of course he did the same to her, and within seconds they were rolling around on the porch, spilling each other's dead blood as they tried to get the upper hand over the other. Beca slid away from him at one point from the force of his own push and slammed into the railing surrounding their porch (it went off down a couple steps into a slightly lower backyard) and let out a slight grunt in equivalent of the breath she didn't need snapping out her lungs. Orion got into a crouching position and, hissing, brandished his clawed hands.

"Jesus, would you just leave us _alone_?!" Beca half-yelled, half-squeaked, struggling to get to her feet. She wasn't used to this much close combat fighting with another vampire - it'd been give or take a hundred years or so since she last really got into a spat this bad to begin with - and her body was already starting to protest greatly. That, and she noticed Orion had special little caps on his claws that made it so he essentially had two, one a bit longer atop the other, that could slice through skin with an added, sinister ease. Even his teeth appeared to have been enhanced. _What the hell are Ned and Vivianne_ doing _if they can pull this off?_ she thought, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed and decently old if she was being honest. This new technology of sorts... well, she didn't think it was really for the better.

Orion grinned maniacally at her. "You'll see, Beca. You'll see," he snarled.

And Beca really didn't know what the hell that meant.

A crashing noise sounded from inside; Beca peered past Orion into the kitchen and he too turned over his shoulder. _Probably worried about the werewolf inside_ , Beca huffed.

The Kommissar appeared in a quick blink of the eye - Beca was fairly certain she had Emily in her arms, bridal style - and the next thing any of them knew the German vampire was barreling through the still partially open back doors. She skidded to a halt on the lawn, purple eyes widened with fear. She too was in her vampire form now. In the kitchen still Beca caught a fast glimpse of the female and other male vampires before they vanished again.

No sign of Chloe.

"She's hurt!" Kommissar shouted, voice cracking badly. "That _schmutziges Zahnmonster_ in there took a chunk out of her calf and hip!"

Beca whirled back around. "Well then _run_ -"

" _Beca_!"

The tone behind Aubrey's shriek terrified her, making her jump in fear, and she hardly even noticed Orion lunging for her again and sinking his teeth down in her forearm. She let out a yell of pain and tried to shake him off but he held on valiantly.

"Hey, motherfucker, not in _my_ house!" Cynthia-Rose bellowed, to which Amy responded with her own, less terrifying shriek of, "Let's get 'im!" with her fists pumping in the air. All the Bellas screamed a war cry and the next thing Beca knew _then_ the whole lot of them surged forward, catching Orion off-balance and shoving him away from Beca. In the chaos of it she had no idea what happened next - she was fairly certain, at least, that Amy sat on his chest while Stacie and Lily dealt him blows to the head - but she figured she had other things to worry about. From inside she could tell another vampire had either been gravely injured or met their end at Chloe's giant, slightly hand-like paws. She dashed to Aubrey, hanging back with Jessica, and shoved her back a little bit more.

"What the hell, Beca!" she squeaked, catching herself by grabbing a fistful of Beca's long sleeve shirt around the collar.

"Please, Bree, Jesus Christ I just need you to get everyone out of here," Beca pleaded. She hadn't realized she was crying, but there were in fact big fat tears rolling down her cheeks and she felt more scared than she ever had before in her life, and she was a whopping three hundred and fifty years old. "This is dangerous! Chloe is out of control and there's at least two and a half vampires here who want you and me dead, and they probably won't stop there!"

Aubrey's pallor was white as a sheet, or perhaps even like freshly fallen powdered snow. Her chest was heaving up and down and Beca didn't need to be able to feel her emotions like Chloe typically could to know she was _right_ on the verge of a panic attack. "B-B-Buh-Beca," she half-wheezed, half-whined. "I c-can't juh-ust l-l-l- _leave_ you two!"

"Don't think of it like that!" Beca cried, grabbing her by the arms. In the background she was aware of her fellow Bellas really giving Orion hell, but she knew that wouldn't last too long; by the end of it, a few of them would be in danger of getting a nasty bite or two. "Don't think of it like leaving, think of it like... like... like you're making sure all the others are safe, and probably getting Emily to a hospital! Chloe and I will be _fine_!"

Face crumpling, Aubrey hurriedly wiped away rapidly falling tears of her own. "Do you promise me?" she whimpered.

"Yes. I promise."

For a second she was still, staring Beca in the eye. Then she nodded, albeit a bit solemnly, and lurched forward past the brunette to grab at the back of Ashley's and Flo's shirts. "Come on, Bellas, we've done all we can! Let's _go_!"

The abject fear to her voice was probably what got all of their attention; they clambered away from Orion one by one and Beca quickly slipped in, grabbing him by the ankles and dragging him away so nobody would get nipped at as they made a hasty retreat for the lawn where Kommissar was still waiting with Emily clutched close in her arms. Aubrey herded them all down the steps, across the lawn, and through the scant few bushes that separated their house from a sidewalk, one more stretch of grass, and finally a rather steep-ish bank to the lake. Beca took a single moment to watch them skirt around the edge, all _sprinting_ \- even Amy! - on Aubrey's heels before she returned her attention to Orion.

He spat blood at her face. There were many bruises already forming all around his eyes and his nose had been beaten pretty much to a pulp. Beca had to hand it to her fellow Bellas; they really knew how (and when) to fight, apparently. "You think this means you're winning?" he croaked. A few of his fangs looked like they'd been partially knocked out of place and he shot her a sickening grin. "This is just the beginning, you goddamn fool!"

"Oh, shut up," Beca snarled, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and raising his head just so off the ground to slam it back down, disorienting him. She shot up to her feet and dashed back inside the house.

It was oddly quiet at first, then her keen hearing picked up the sound of teeth crunching down on bones. She carefully picked her way to the opening of the kitchen. In it laid the female vampire, her right leg torn off, but other than that she simply looked unconscious. Chloe in her werewolf form was busy munching on the other male vampire - he, too, didn't actually look _dead_ -dead. Beca knew it wasn't all that hard to keep a vampire "alive" despite multiple, horrid injuries, and the way Chloe was bit by bit consuming him would probably keep him going for a bit longer. So to speak. Really, as long as his head and heart remained mostly intact...

Chloe was rifling her snout through his torn open waist. Beca grimaced slightly, unsure how she felt seeing this - it wasn't _really_ Chloe was what she kept telling herself, but even in her wolf form the redhead was quite recognizable. Either way, Beca knew it'd probably be smart to either get her out of the house or somehow incapacitate her... easier said than done, honestly. She had no clue where to start and it wasn't like she had a couple ounces of _horse tranquilizer_ just on-hand, which maybe wouldn't even be enough to begin with!

She shifted a tad closer and Chloe's ears twitched. Slowly rising her head, silver eyes locked onto bright blue. Giant fangs covered in blood and drool sort of smiled at her, bits of human meat in between them. Beca exhaled slowly.

"Hey, Chlo," she said, but her voice cracked badly. She cleared her throat and edged a bit closer, again extending her hand out to her. "It's me. Just Becs. You _know_ me... and while I don't think that means much right now, I just need your attention for a couple seconds. Just look at me. Stop... uh... munching on that dude?" She shook her head to herself. _Great, she'll love to hear about these things you're saying to her in the morning when she's back to her human form_ , she berated herself.

Chloe tilted her head slightly to the side, straightening into a sort of half-crouch. Though she probably couldn't actually _hear_ Beca - couldn't understand her, that is - she most definitely had her attention on the brunette now. Beca searched for anything, anything at all she could use... and her eyes fell on the closed door leading down to the basement. A plan began to form in her mind - sure, it was a little half-baked and _absolutely_ reckless, but she could afford that. It was Aubrey, Emily, Kommissar, all the Bellas she was more worried about. If she could just get Chloe down there... she knew where the redhead kept some "emergency chains", as she'd put it, just in case things really went sour and she happened to come to the house during a turn, or something drastically unexpected occurred. Beca figured that, in a way, both of those things were being hit on and she really didn't think she had any other choice by this point.

"Okay," Beca said, partially to herself, as she slid in the direction of the door. "Okay, uh, let's take a short little trip down to the basement, huh? Just a quick... little adventure..." She moved and Chloe moved with her, eyes open wide and face a bit more serene than it had been so far. Beca was silently relieved she wasn't baring her teeth and snarling at her. That wasn't super fun. It was just so drastically _different_ seeing Chloe this angry and seemingly hateful... Beca had no clue how to handle it, and whatever she was doing internally to get through it probably really wasn't working. But she could worry about that some other time.

For now she just needed to get Chloe somewhere she couldn't hurt anyone. It might make for a sort of nasty night but Beca figured the redhead would agree with her actions in hindsight. So, creeping over to the door, she maintained eye-contact the entire time even as she turned the doorknob and slipped down onto the first wooden step. It creaked under her minimal weight and she winced slightly; Chloe was padding after her, elongated, hairy limbs allowing her to move in a way that reminded Beca of a snake as much as a wolf. One of her back paws slipped a little in a pool of blood.

Beca made it halfway down the stairs, flipping on the light on her way - thankfully it worked despite none of them having come down here before to check if it _did_ , since all of them (even Beca, to a degree) were fairly frightened by it - and Chloe emerged in the doorway, one front paw reaching about three steps down. She descended much faster than Beca; the brunette stumbled, straightening from the crouched position she had been in, and walked backwards quickly until her back slammed into the concrete wall behind her. Chloe's snout was suddenly about half an inch from her face, breathing hot, rancid smelling air. Beca instinctively wrinkled her nose and stopped breathing so as to not inhale it back.

"Um, hey," she stammered in a whisper.

Chloe sniffed at her face, down her chest, and around her bloodied hands. Her lips curled back and she growled lowly.

"You smell Orion's blood on me?" Beca half-gasped. "I bet you don't like that."

Chloe looked up at her, eyes narrowed, maw open.

"Well - _ahem_ \- you just... you j-just stay down here a moment, Chlo, I'll be _right_ back." Beca wasted no time, using her inhuman speed to take her to the top of the steps. She slammed the door shut and locked it - this would just have to do for now - before sprinting up to their bedroom and retrieving the chains from underneath the dresser. In a flash she was back at the door, and to her surprise all she could hear behind it was Chloe snuffling around and scratching once at the wooden surface. _Well, there goes_ that _side of the door_ , Beca thought with a somewhat amused, mostly tired smile. She pushed the door open and slipped inside without giving Chloe much room to get past her, and once again they stood close to each other. Now, though, the redhead didn't seem very happy. Probably because she could smell the metal.

Beca had a slight plan for that, though. Chloe had a stuffed bear that she kept on top of the dresser, a little memento from home and childhood days, but she didn't use it for snuggling (that was Aubrey and Beca's job). Much like a puppy, she used it for something to chew on and play with - one time Beca almost had her finger bit off when Chloe was resting with it the day of a turning and she'd teasingly tried to take it away. _Note to self, don't take food or toys from a werewolf, like you wouldn't from a dog_ , she'd thought at the time. She pulled the bear out from behind her back and saw a glimmer of recognition in Chloe's beaming eyes, which was better than what she had so far been able to accomplish just trying to talk to her.

Waving the bear back and forth, she said, "You want it? Huh? You want the bear?" _Oh, I bet she'll hate this, too_. But the reality of it made Beca snicker in near-hysterical amusement.

Chloe's giant tail started wagging, hitting the wall with enough force that, if it were made out of plaster, it would probably break. Fortunately it was concrete.

Beca craned her arm back. "Then go _get it_!" she shouted, throwing the bear down to the bottom of the stairs. Chloe spun around a bit awkwardly, too large to really fit comfortably enough in the space to turn more easily, and thundered down the steps. Beca quickly followed, looping the chain around Chloe's neck, but the redhead hardly noticed. She was too busy gnawing lightly on her bear, paws clamping it down to the floor, rear end raised in the air as her tail continued to wag. Beca pushed the hooks she'd found also underneath the dresser into the concrete wall with her immense strength, groaning a bit from the exertion. Looping all the chains up in a manner she assumed would keep Chloe more or less stationary, or at least forced to stay at the wall, she turned again to the redhead. Now came the harder part - getting the chains around her wrists. She didn't really dare get _that_ close to the toy and her teeth, though.

"Well, here goes nothing," she grumbled to herself, slowly advancing. Chloe saw her right away out of the corner of her eye and just started growling.

From somewhere far off Beca heard a chorus of screams.

Chloe's head snapped up and she lunged for Beca, but the brunette had anticipated it enough to get out of the way. She struggled to get the chains further around her - wrists and chest, and once more around the neck - and put the last loop on a hook. Jumping out of the danger zone she just barely missed Chloe's teeth again, then the chains did their job and stopped her from coming any closer. Beca took a second to kick the bear back into her reach.

"Sorry Chlo, but this is for the better!" she called over her shoulder, already sprinting up the stairs to find both the vampires previously in the kitchen were gone. "Shit," she muttered to herself. There were two different trails of clotted, brownish blood that she knew had to come from them - not even just because of the smell that belonged to them - and she followed those to the back porch, across the lawn, and down the sidewalk in the same direction Aubrey had taken everybody else. Orion, also no longer where he was supposed to be, had obviously followed. Beca could smell his scent trail ahead of the other two vampires'. Swearing profusely to herself she sprinted after the three distinct, clustered scents all the way around to the other side of the lake. It led to the Treblemakers' house.

She thought about the screams she'd heard before chaining Chloe up. Nausea settled deep and horrible in the pit of her stomach and she felt as if she might vomit, something she hadn't done in a very, very long time.

The blood and Orion's scent took her to the Treblemakers' wooden fence and gate leading into the backyard; it was just ajar, and Beca could hear raised voices before she even got all that close. She slipped inside, sticking to the shadows, and rounded the corner. The Treblemakers had a pool in their backyard, providing the main source of light aside from ones above their back doors. Beca only caught sight of Jesse and felt a surge of relief - hopefully that meant everyone else was out tonight, containing the amount of people who were suddenly finding out about her and Chloe's true nature. He and the rest of the Bellas were on the far side of the pool, shouting abuse at the other two vampires nearest to Beca. She was about to jump them when she realized Orion was swimming in the pool, spitting and chuckling darkly at their expense. The water was tainted with a misty cloud of red slowly expanding to the edges.

There was no sign of Aubrey.

* * *

 _A/N: No offense but I have no shame for all these cliffhangers._

 _Also, I should be doing homework right now lol but figured you guys have waited long enough to know what happens (at least 2/3 of the way)._

 _Two sidenotes: first, the scant German in this chapter is probably real incorrect, just remember I'm using google translate and that has its flaws. Second, I finally saw Pitch Perfect 3 so now I can tell you I know (roughly) what I'm going to do with this story!_

 _Till next time, my dears. Please keep reviewing, favoriting and following!_

 _Also, quick shout-out to guest reviewer J.J, your review was very sweet and motivating! Thank you!  
_


	33. Chapter XXXIII

**\+ XXXIII +**

Aubrey led the Bellas, plus the Kommissar with an injured Emily, at a sprint around the lake towards the Treblemaker house. She wasn't entirely sure where else to go and figured it was as good a place as any to hunker down, call the cops and an ambulance, and be well enough away from the danger that was Chloe in her werewolf form and all the vampires back at their own house. Her chest heaved with ill-taken breaths, head thrumming with a stress headache. She felt like she was going to throw up at best, start hyperventilating at worst. She knew the second they stopped her legs were going to give right out from underneath her.

In her panicked state of mind she went towards the back gate as opposed to the front door, hardly hearing any one of the Bellas shouting questions at her. She leapt at the gate, pulling herself up and over in a surprisingly fluid movement in order to unlock it and open it for everyone else to come in. As they did so she went around to the back door and pool.

Jesse was sitting at the edge with his feet dangling in the water, and he looked up in confused, surprised concern, quickly scrambling to a standing position the second the Kommissar appeared with Emily. "Holy geez!" he spluttered. "What happened? A-are you that friend Beca made in Romania...?" he asked, gesturing hesitantly to the Kommissar, still in her vampire form, purple eyes glaring in whatever darkness was left with the light from the pool.

"Yes, and we need a hospital!" she half-snapped. In her arms Emily made a weak moaning noise; she didn't appear too badly hurt to Aubrey, but she was sprinkling blood all over the ground and definitely looked like she was in shock. And that was more than enough.

"What's going on?" Jesse repeated.

"Listen, Jesse, I don't really have the luxury of time to explain to you the finer details," Aubrey snapped shrilly, gesturing sharply. "All you need to know is that some bad people are at our house and Emily is _hurt_. We need to call the police and an ambulance right away."

He jumped a little on the balls of his feet, nodding. "Yeah, sure, let me-"

"Oi, watch out!" Amy screamed.

Aubrey whirled around. A figure, hidden slightly in the shadows, was leaping up and over the fence. Orion stepped into the light, his face a beaten, sneering mess. "You stupid, worthless humans!" he spat. "Why must you make everything so _difficult_?"

"Girls, behind me!" Aubrey ordered, surprised at how strong her voice came out. The Bellas and even the Kommissar did as she asked, clustering up behind her with Jesse. She slowly started backing all of them around to the other side of the pool. "We've called the police," she lied, addressing Orion. He made a face of disgust. "They'll be here shortly to arrest you. I doubt there's much you can do about that without making a huge scene that will most definitely threaten whatever it is you're trying to do here. So... I suggest you... you beat it!"

Chuckling darkly, Orion began to pace. "What, you think you were speaking quietly amongst yourselves just now? I could hear you long before I got here. I know you haven't yet called the cops, or anything of the sort. That's it. You're caught. Which makes you _mine_."

In the blink of an eye he was suddenly standing right in front of Aubrey; she flinched backwards but not quite in time, and his horrible claws scoured across her stomach, just below her ribs. She screamed in pain. In the same second the Bellas pushed her forward, as if to counteract Orion's attack, both causing his claws to go in deeper and for her to slam into him. They stumbled backwards together and went flailing into the pool - the shallower end. Aubrey banged her knees on the bottom and kicked herself back up, gasping in pain as she whipped her wet hair out of her face so she could see. Orion surfaced, teeth bared and claws at the ready. He started advancing again but it seemed the slightest bit more difficult because of the water.

Aubrey spat and spluttered, backing away from him with her arms pin-wheeling to maintain her balance. Her legs felt even weaker now that she was losing blood - it was expanding away from her midsection in a cloud, tainting the white-blue color of the water to make it a bright red. Orion perked up at the sight and grinned, and it was probably the most frightening thing Aubrey had seen as of late. _Far_ more like the _Salem's Lot_ vampire as opposed to any from _Twilight_. She felt some small part of her brain click with the horror of seeing that expression, and she got the good feeling that the longer she looked at it the more she was going to feel like she was losing her mind. It wasn't _just_ because of the grin - it was also the fact that he had hurt her, and now her blood was misting towards him, and regardless of whether or not that made him hungry it had already been _well_ established he wanted to kill her.

Well, there he was. Here she was, a few feet away, already bleeding quite a bit. It really wouldn't be too hard for him to finish her off.

With that in mind Aubrey backed up until her lower back hit the edge of the pool, and she hoisted herself up backwards so as to avoid taking her eyes off Orion. He glided closer, crouching down so the lower half of his face was in the water, his mouth agape and showing off an incisor array of fangs. The color of his eyes was white like bone.

"You mangy twat!" Fat Amy roared behind her, and she turned over her shoulder then, some of her adrenaline warring with the pain and giving her a reprieve of ignorance that was sure to end sooner rather than later. The Australian and Stacie jolted forward to grab Aubrey under each arm and drag her back into their protective circle; she saw that Flo was kneeling beside Emily, who was now lying on the grass, while the Kommissar had shouldered her way to the front. She took Aubrey's previous position at the head of their group. Jesse was speaking hurriedly into his cellphone. Aubrey looked a bit closer at Emily and saw there were large bite marks in her right hip and calf. Literal chunks of her flesh had been ripped away. Flo was holding bits of clothing to the bleeding wounds - what looked like Cynthia-Rose's jacket - and stroking away the hair sticking to her face with sweat. Aubrey guessed she had fallen to her side in the chaos and probably two of the vampires had attacked her at once, or just the one had and crawled up her side to deal her the two bites, but what did it really matter to know the logistics? She was hurt, that was all. And now so was Aubrey, and she was supposed to be leading everyone, keeping them as safe as she could in the limited power she had.

She felt like she had failed her fellow Bellas.

Orion started chuckling again before he even stood up straight, the sound gurgling awfully in the water. It didn't come out all that better when he was upright. "I underestimated how fun this was going to be," he practically purred.

"Well, your fun is about to end!" Jesse snapped back, dangling his phone mockingly in the air. "I just called our lovely boys and girls in blue. They'll be here and before you know it your ass is gonna be in the back of one of their squad cars on the way to Sing-Sing."

"Yeah, we don't have that here," Amy muttered at him, frowning.

"It's just a saying-"

Orion threw his head back with a cackle. "Stupid _humans_."

"If you want to pick a fight, you damn well better pick it with me!" the Kommissar _roared_ \- all the houses in the area probably heard it. "You traitor! I'll have your head for the carnage you provoked tonight!"

" _Traitor_?" Orion screeched. "You want to talk about _betrayal_? It was _you_ who betrayed _us_ , dear Kommissar, and Prince Ned does not take kindly to such acts."

"What the hell y'all talking 'bout?" Cynthia-Rose snarled. "I don't give much of a shit, I just want you to get off the gent's property!" she added, pointing at Jesse, who nodded vigorously in agreement. The two of them bolstered forward but were shied back into place by a narrow-eyed glare from the Kommissar.

Aubrey's head was spinning. She could hardly keep up with this dialogue, and part of her didn't want to, rationalizing that it would probably be better if she concentrated on _not_ bleeding to death instead. She already had both hands splayed out across the deep gashes in her stomach, but it didn't seem like it was enough. Just about every part of her was physically going numb and she could hear much more of her pulse, fluttery now, in her ears. Her breathing was considerably more erratic. She was fairly certain either Stacie or Amy were trying to talk to her but she just couldn't focus.

"I'll make a deal with you pitiful wastes," a muffled voice came to her, and it took her half a second to recognize it as Orion's. "You give me _that_ one, and I'll leave you be. For good."

Blinking, Aubrey got her wavering vision to focus. He was pointing right at her.

" _Du wunschst_. No deal!" the Kommissar snarled, showing off her own, less neatly arranged display of fangs.

"Kommissar," Aubrey wheezed, "don't be foolish." She yanked her arms out of Amy and Stacie's grips - albeit rather weakly - and somehow managed to teeter to her feet. Spreading her arms out, she shuffled closer to the edge of the pool. "I'm no idiot. And I've taken a philosophy class here at Barden. It's better to sacrifice the life of one... rather than the lives of many. If you want to kill me, you _have_ to leave everyone else here alone. Otherwise, I - I'll haunt you! I don't know how but I will! If you all can be aca- _freaking_ vampires then I can be a ghost if I want to! And if you hurt anyone after me you'll _regret it_!"

The last time she had screamed at the top of her lungs like this she recalled happening during her fifth birthday party; one of her friends had tried to open her presents before her, before she was ready to start opening them. She'd screamed her head off, probably went really red in the face, and while the kid was told off for trying to open presents that weren't theirs Aubrey was taken into her parents' bedroom and spanked. It was not the first time in between the ages of four and seven that she was spanked for losing her temper like that, or various other things, and despite being an adult now she wondered how her parents would react to her screaming her lungs out at this age-old man about to kill her.

Was she doing it out of hysterics? Fear?

Or did she actually believe what she was saying?

She could hear her fellow Bellas shouting behind her, trying to match her volume. "Aubrey, no!" "Don't be _stupid_!" "We can get out of this, just hold out till the police get here!" "No one has to be a fucking martyr!" "Don't leave us with these freaks!"

The obscene grin was back and she faltered down to one knee, hands snapping down to catch herself. Her wet hair curtained her face. "Alright," Orion _giggled_ , sounding like a child who had just been rewarded with a piece of candy. He started crawling out of the pool towards her - but before he could get very far, the Kommissar stomped in between them.

" _Nein_! I said no! Crawl back to the pit you came from!" she hissed, lashing out at him.

He didn't even blink. "You heard the lady, Kommissar. It's a deal."

"You stay out of the way!" a feeble voice called from the other side of the pool, and Aubrey peered past the black creeping in around the edges of her vision to see the other two vampires a bit nearer to the gate. They were leaning heavily against each other - the woman was missing a leg, and the man's torso was torn open. His guts were practically spilling down his front, emanating a rotting smell. Aubrey was just impressed they were still "alive".

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Kommissar bare her teeth and growl at them. A hand grabbed her around the ankle and yanked her forward, pulling her off the vague balance she had in her little half-kneel. She shrieked in surprise that turned swiftly to horror at the expression on Orion's face now, a hunger mixed with bloodlust mixed with the simple desire to _kill_. Like some sort of animal, but worse in its human likeness. His other hand shot out from under him - he'd crawled about halfway out the pool - and grabbed her just below the knee to drag her the last bit forward, then he was bending himself in ways that wouldn't have been possible were he completely human. His fangs sank into her thigh and blood started to gush out. Aubrey screamed again. Her thoughts flashed back to the other evening, with Chloe and Beca, in which Beca had marked them. It hadn't been like this. Sure, it had hurt then, burned a little even, but in the end it felt fantastic. This was just an insidious pain Aubrey had never before experienced in her life, _drastically_ different than Beca's bite, and a small voice in the back of her head piped up to say that maybe it was due to the fact that these bites were from two different people. Beca hadn't wanted to hurt her, she'd wanted to bring them all closer. Orion wanted her dead. It made sense this was an incredibly agonizing pain.

Aubrey felt her eyes roll back into her head, her body convulsing. She could hear herself choking but couldn't feel it. Just like that, Orion's teeth were gone and she was being thrown by the leg into the pool. She lost consciousness just as she hit the water.

* * *

"Aubrey! Oh god, Bree! _Fuck_! What happened?! _Aubrey_! _Wake up_!"

"Is she dead? Christ on a goddamn bike, Beca, is she _dead_?!"

"I'll rip your head off and shove it so far up your ass for this! Yeah, you _better_ run!"

" _Where are the fucking cops_?!"

Aubrey recognized Beca's, Stacie's, Amy's and Cynthia-Rose's voices in that order, but she couldn't open her eyes in an attempt to look at them. She barely even felt conscious. Every inch of her felt _wet_ , a heavy sort of wet that didn't seem to just be water. She tried to lift her arm. No go. At least she didn't think so, perhaps she was moving despite not being able to feel it, but she was pretty sure that if she was any one of the voices around her would notice it.

"Everybody just stand back! Okay?! Fuck!" Beca's voice again. Aubrey wasn't sure what she was ordering that for, then she felt a slight prick in her neck and warmth emanated from it. She gasped, the sound coming out weak and fluttering. After a moment she was able to open her eyes and her blurry vision took in a mane of brunette hair, and past it, the concerned faces of Stacie and Cynthia-Rose. Then Jesse appeared in her field of vision as well, followed a moment later by the Kommissar so she was looking up at a strange square of faces with the thick mane of hair partially in the way of one side.

"Beca, is that _safe_?" the Kommissar hissed. She was still in her vampire form.

"Wh-what are you - are you giving her your venom?" Jesse gasped.

The pricked feeling slid out of Aubrey's neck and she moaned lightly; the mass of hair moved and there was Beca, in vampire form as well and glaring up at both her good friends. "I know what I'm doing! I gave her my venom once before - I just can't let her _die_!" she snapped, voice cracking nearing the end. She glanced down, wiping one hand over her mouth, and suddenly paused. Her eyes became the size of saucers. "Aubrey! Bree! Shit, are you awake? Can you hear me?! Aubrey, if you can hear me, just give me a sign, please," she yelled shrilly.

Aubrey managed another weak moan.

"She's awake! What do we do now?!" Stacie yelped.

"This should be enough to get her safely to the hospital," Beca said in a rush, her eyes skittering around to take in every inch of Aubrey's body. "That ambulance should be here soon, right? I'm not just imagining those sirens getting closer?"

The Kommissar shook her head. She was staring off in a different direction. "No, I can hear them too. They will be here shortly."

Stacie waved her hands jerkily and squeezed her eyes shut tight. "Okay, I have, like, _so_ many questions," she whined. "I don't even know where to start!"

"Then don't," the Kommissar growled, and walked away.

Aubrey blinked lazily and switched her gaze back to Beca, now _out_ of her vampire form. She was smiling in a comforting way that probably would work better if there wasn't a very _obvious_ undertone of panic to it. "Hey, Bree," she wheezed. "Look, I kept my promise. And Chloe's safe, too - I chained her up in the basement." She grimaced, nose scrunching up. "That sounds bad. Don't worry, she'll be fine, I left her with that stuffed bear of hers. With any luck the chains will hold her down there until sunrise and she'll be alright, just, you know... chained to a wall. In the basement. I'll go get her, soon as the sun's up! Promise."

Smiling as best as she could - though she felt like she wasn't doing a good job of it - Aubrey tried to open her mouth. An incoherent string of pained moans spilled from her lips.

Beca shook her head, stroking fingers through her hair. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't try to speak - you're not gonna be up to that for a good while. Just try to relax. You're safe. Orion and his surviving pose members have gone... I think Amy scared them off." She winked, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Aubrey pretended not to notice, knowing the brunette well enough to figure she wouldn't _want_ her to notice. "The ambulance is turning down this street," she murmured, and Aubrey could hear it. It was muffled, but there.

What happened next was a blur to her. The paramedics and police arrived and she was immediately put on a stretcher and taken into the back of the ambulance. As they were hoisting her up she turned her head and gazed down the street in the direction of the Bellas' house. She felt like she could hear Chloe snarling and barking, shaking her body in attempts at getting the chains off and (hopefully) failing. Turning her gaze down towards her feet, she saw Beca and everyone else all clustered at the gate, watching them take her away. The last thing she saw before the doors shut were the teary-eyed faces of all her friends, her sisters, and Beca's crumpling as her shoulders started to shake badly with sobs. As the Kommissar shifted closer to her the doors were shut and Aubrey was barely aware of the ride to the hospital.

She woke up seemingly a mere few hours later, and was probably right, since she turned to see both Beca and Chloe seated at her bedside. The two of them were sharing one chair, Beca resting sideways in the redhead's lap; Chloe's neck was craned back and her red hair was cascading down the back of the chair. It looked awfully uncomfortable. They were both asleep, so Aubrey simply let out a sigh and closed her eyes again, settling back into the pillow and sheets of her hospital bed.

A jerked gasp sounded to her right, followed by Beca's small body tumbling to the floor. She grunted in surprise and Aubrey smiled with her eyes still closed, able to feel Chloe shooting to her feet and leaning halfway across her.

"Bree! Ohmygod, _Bree_!" she squealed, shaking the bed a bit.

Aubrey didn't feel quite up to talking yet; she opened her eyes and smiled shakily, tears filling and immediately spilling at the sight of Chloe's face about two inches from her own. It was a bit scratched up but from what Aubrey could see she looked remarkably better off than the other two vampires she'd fought with. She grinned one of her mega-watt grins and Aubrey could see that her teeth were still stained a slight red. The sight of it made her a little nauseas and reminded her of the look on Orion's face when he hurt her.

She stamped down the urge to vomit as best she could and almost lost control before she was able to swallow it down and push the mental images away forcibly.

"It's good to see you, Chloe," she croaked instead, voice raspy. She cleared her throat weakly and glanced past the redhead as much as she could what with her proximity and found Beca kneeling at the bedside, her head reaching up to Chloe's hip. Aubrey giggled.

A slow grin sprouted across Beca's face. She nudged Chloe back a bit and stood, and Aubrey was able to look at both of them. There were a few scratches ranging from what looked like paper cuts to scrapes peppering Beca's arms, and presumably more of her, but her venom had clearly taken care of the worst of her injuries from her scrabble with Orion. And now that Chloe had backed up Aubrey's suspicions were confirmed - she was most likely the least hurt out of the three of them. Then again, she was wearing a jacket. Aubrey made a mental note to be sure to check both of them for any hints of what they'd gone through at a later time.

When she was out of the hospital.

"I-I'm so sorry," Beca spluttered, as if remembering at the same time just where they were at the moment. The grin vanished, replaced by furrowed brows and down-turned lips. "You always really seem to get the short end of the stick, Bree. First it was whoever the hell pushing you off the roof of that building and nearly killing you, now this. I'm sorry."

Aubrey shook her head, but couldn't find the strength to speak again.

"It makes sense," Beca continued, voice cracking. Her eyes flicked to Chloe but the redhead was staring solely at Aubrey with an expression like she was trying _very hard_ not to cry. "Vampires really see humans as the weakest of the weak, essentially, at least most of the time. You're much easier to pick off rather than Chloe if any of those assholes want to get at _me_. And they do... they've made that annoyingly clear."

"We'll protect you better next time, Bree," Chloe murmured darkly. "They're not going to get another chance at hurting you. I can promise you that." Finally she tore her gaze away, looking from the blonde to Beca and back again. Some of the intensity left her expression and turned to soft concern. "No matter how much I might lose myself in a turning, I can still pretty much always tell when someone I care about is in danger. My mama assured me of that. And I know, although I don't remember last night at _all_ , that at one point I felt desperately like I needed to get to wherever Aubrey was. To protect her." She hung her head in shame, sniffling. "I'm sorry I didn't reach you," she whispered.

"Chloe, it's not your fault," Aubrey managed, her voice hardly above a whisper as well. "Beca said she chained you to the basement wall."

The brunette turned and bent to pick up a water bottle, on the floor next to the leg of the chair they'd been sitting in. She opened it and helped Aubrey drink from it. Aubrey could tell a shift had entered both of them, a dark one she didn't know how to react to, much less how to bring it up. It was frightening. Not like Orion's grin frightening, but - well, it just wasn't what Aubrey would have expected. Of course they were both upset about the vampires attacking at such an inopportune time, and that they'd hurt Aubrey, but they hadn't known! There was only so much Chloe could have done, experiencing that difficult turning, and Beca had more than one thing on her mind at the time. And Aubrey was honestly supposed to take care of herself, too. She was an adult. She shouldn't have been so helpless.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Beca's eyebrows snapped up to her hairline while Chloe's furrowed badly. "What?" she scoffed, leaning close again, although this time she shifted out of the way a bit so Beca could as well. They gazed down at Aubrey with their own types of vaguely hurt confusion.

Aubrey swallowed repeatedly, unsure at this point if she was going to blow chunks at any given moment or if the panic attack she'd almost had last night was just catching back up to her. "I should have been able to... to take care of myself better," she panted. She was becoming aware of a dull throbbing in her torso region and in her thigh. "I'm not helpless - at least, I... I'm not as helpless as I made it... seem, last night."

"You're not helpless at _all_ , Bree. I mean, god, I probably would've been in much the same position as you had I been in your shoes!" Chloe huffed, shaking her head.

"That's just... ridiculous... and you know it," Aubrey muttered, still not breathing quite right - she caught Beca shooting all the monitors she was hooked up to a quick glance. "The second you turned you ripped that first vampire to shreds. Then that real jerk... Gus, right? And you tore the woman's leg off, and that last man had his guts spilling out. You were _fine_ against five vampires. And Beca would have most likely beat Orion whether or not the Bellas stepped in and started beating him up a bit _for_ her."

Chloe had turned awfully pale, her eyes once again widened. She looked to Beca, who just nodded to affirm the facts, and just like that she burst into tears. "Oh, no, oh god, oh I'm so _sorry_!" she blubbered amidst hiccups.

"You don't have to apologize to _me_!" Aubrey assured, attempting to sit up. The dull ache in her torso turned into a flaring pain and she clenched her teeth _hard_ to stop herself from letting out any exclamations. Flinging a hand out, she grasped Chloe's in it. "Chloe, please, stop crying. It's okay. You were protecting everyone!"

"And everyone saw me turn, didn't they?" Chloe wailed.

"Well-" Aubrey cut herself off, looking helplessly to Beca. The brunette jumped and her hands snapped up to grasp Chloe's arm.

"It was bound to come out in some way sooner or later," she said lowly. "Come on, I'm sure you know that. We're all living together in the same place... and they were already suspicious. Yeah, this wasn't the _ideal_ way to tell them, but at least now it's out there. Once some time has passed you're going to feel like a weight's been taken off your chest."

Hiccupping harder, Chloe wiped the tears and snot off her face with her sleeves. "D-do you feel like that?" she whined.

A shadow fell across Beca's face and she quickly ducked her head. "Uh... no. Not yet, anyway. Right now I feel like I freaked the shit out of everyone. B-but they're understanding people, and we really _are_ pretty much a family! I really doubt they're gonna, like, chase us out of town with pitchforks and torches the next time they see us."

The door suddenly flew open and Fat Amy barreled in, followed by the rest of the Bellas, as if Beca had summoned them. "Aubrey! You're alive!" she panted.

They flooded around the entirety of her bed, jostling Chloe into Beca - the two of them looked on the verge of panicking themselves. "We just visited Emily a couple doors down," Stacie said, lips tilting up in a trembling smile. "She's awake, too, and doing just fine. And that tall drink of German water was with her so we know she'll be _perfectly_ fine."

"You scared us," Flo said blandly. Her expression was unreadable. "I know I am new to this but, seriously, that was a bit crazy. Like the time when the drug cartel came to my village and got in a fight with the tortilla lady down the street."

Everyone gaze her weird looks. "On that note..." Cynthia-Rose grumbled, turning to Beca and Chloe, "I think we've all got some serious-ass questions for the two of you."

"Yeah, can we start with the fact that Chloe _literally_ turned into a _wolf_ in front of us?" Stacie snapped shrilly. "Or how Beca and that German lady and those five _jerks_ all morphed into the complete opposite of, like, Edward Cullen?"

"Come on, guys, the signs were all there!" Amy sighed, raising her hands meekly in the air to let them fall and smack against her thighs. "I mean, even that time in the bus on the way to one of our first competitions, Chloe couldn't stand up in that thing to save her life! And what about Beca not eating, almost ever? I shared a room with her for that short bit, I know she goes out often at night and comes home with all this dark stuff covering her face and chest!" Beca grimaced and shied a bit closer to the medical equipment; on the other hand, Chloe looked like she was about to start crying all over again, her lower lip trembling. "And let's not forget how ridiculously pale Becs is," Fat Amy sighed again, this time with a shake of her head as she glanced around at everyone in the group, all of them wearing looks of contemplation. "Also, I know this one's less obvious, but the way Chloe sometimes wiggles like she's actually got a tail."

Cynthia-Rose nodded, lips pursed. "You know, you kinda right..."

Amy spread her arms out. "Eh? Eh? I know I am. 'Cause I'm awesome," she huffed.

"Okay, but despite all of that, none of us would have assumed _vampires and werewolves_ were real without actually seeing them with our own eyes," Stacie interjected. "That's a huge leap to make! One between reality and what we were always told to be fiction!"

"Speak for yourself," Flo muttered under her breath.

"Hold on, please," Aubrey spoke up, though she could still hardly raise her voice too much higher than a whisper. Her chest felt tight with anxiety and the effort of ignoring her pain; she felt a bit like crying as well, for multiple reasons, some that she couldn't even begin to put a name to right now. She refrained, squeezing Chloe's hand still in hers as a sign of support. "I know this is weird for all of you, but you've got to remember Chloe and Beca are right here in the room with you, listening to this dialogue you're having," she panted.

They all glanced swiftly to the pair, then back at Aubrey. "So you knew about this?" Stacie asked - not accusatorily, just curious.

Aubrey nodded. "Yes. Before... before we even got together."

"You agreed to date _both_ of them _knowing_ about this?" Cynthia-Rose spluttered.

"Yes! Alright? Yes! I really care for Beca and Chloe. It doesn't matter to me that they aren't completely human, because that isn't all they are! They're also amazingly caring, and passionate, and funny! And _beautiful_! And I can say all this even though I didn't find out about this in a neat, not scary way, either," Aubrey snapped, breathing a bit harder as she fought through the pain to sit up and further convey her meaning.

Silence for a few moments. A few of them hung their heads in shame while others stared back and forth between the three of them, clearly in thought. Finally Flo leaned forward and asked, "How did you find out?"

Aubrey waited until she caught her breath a bit more. She sighed. "It was the night we went back to the empty pool and Beca showed us what we could do for finals. Chloe and I were walking back to our dorm, she was acting weird, I tried to confront her about it. She turned right in front of me and... well, panicking, I ran. I ran into the trees and literally stumbled upon Beca in her vampire form feeding on a deer. She realized what was happening with Chloe and quickly took me back to our dorm. The following morning we talked about it... but that night I was so scared. I couldn't understand what I'd seen."

Chloe whimpered, her free hand snapping up to clamp over her mouth as fresh tears ran down her scuffed cheeks. Beca hung her head in shame, fidgeting even closer to the hospital equipment, her eyes turning a little bloodshot with the effort of holding back her own tears.

Despite the pain in her midsection and her trouble breathing (quite possibly something having to do with inhaling water, she realized, since she distinctly remembered Orion tossing her into the pool after biting into her thigh and she blacked out right when she hit the water) Aubrey sat up completely and took both their hands in her own, tugging their arms to get their attention and force them to make eye-contact. She ignored the Bellas in the room and said, "You two have nothing to be ashamed of. None of last night was pretty, but Chloe, all you were doing was essentially being yourself. You can't just _stop_ yourself from turning. And you both protected all of us from those terrible vampires. Who knows, Emily could be _dead_ right now if it weren't for the two of you. _I_ could be dead. But neither of us are, and nobody else is hurt. I for one am very glad you both are who you are and _what_ you are because if you weren't, things would have gone much more poorly last night."

She stared them both down, trying to impart the depths of her feelings without really fully knowing how to communicate them. With any luck, this look would be enough.

To her relief they both lost some of the tension in their shoulders. Chloe smiled brightly and just nodded, wiping away the new tears; Beca managed a shaky sigh and averted her gaze up to the ceiling for a moment, her grip on Aubrey's hand tightening. The blonde knew that was just their own ways of thanking her for the time being.

"Aw, gee," Cynthia-Rose sighed, reminding all three of them that they weren't alone. All their fellow Bellas were smiling softly at them, though in some Aubrey could still see confusion. "You know, Aubrey makes some good points. We ain't mad, Chloe and Beca."

"Yeah, honestly _thank you guys_ ," Stacie huffed, flipping her hair. "I hadn't thought about the whole dying part - Aubrey's right. We would've been sucked dry by those freaky vamps."

Beca scowled and smiled at the same time, looking on the verge of taking offense, but she didn't open her mouth to comment.

"This doesn't mean we don't have more questions for later," Cynthia-Rose said sternly, pointing a finger at the brunette before shifting it to Chloe. "For now, though, just stay with your girl. And bring her home. The house is probably going to fall apart without Aubrey there to make sure we're kept in line."

"And since you both are out of duty," Amy said, clasping her hands together in a praying motion, "I will do as you beseeched me and take on both roles of captain and co-captain."

"Pretty sure neither of us have ever asked you that," Aubrey giggled. It turned into a harsh coughing fit that created a fire sensation in her torso, and she had to lay back down on the bed and just try to focus on breathing. Beca fumbled around and grabbed a breathing mask that she helped her put on, murmuring something under her breath. She looked paler than usual (which really said something).

The Bellas bid their individual farewells. Beca and Chloe laid down on either of Aubrey's sides on the bed and simply gave her comfort through their presence. She could tell, though, that both of them were a bundle of nerves. Although none of their friends had seemed _particularly_ disturbed by their deepest secrets - at least not in their basest form, the whole tearing people to shreds thing maybe not so much - Aubrey understood that it would take quite a bit for Beca and Chloe to trust them completely. And they would need that trust if they wanted to continue to function with other people who _knew_.

She wiggled her arms underneath both of them and silently drew them closer. They both rested their heads on each of her shoulders. Another little cough forced its way out her throat and she closed her eyes. While she would rather _not_ be spending her time in the hospital it really wasn't so bad with Beca and Chloe here with her.

* * *

 _A/N: Don't worry y'all, I'll be revisiting both the Bellas knowing about Chloe and Beca and the whole situation with Ned and Vivianne. Just thought this chapter was getting on to be a bit too long already to really tackle all that. For now, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, if not lol then tell me how I could make it better! I always love that constructive criticism~ I do hope this didn't go by too quick. But, you know, maybe Aubrey isn't totally okay..._

 _Please keep reviewing, following and favoriting! Till next time my lovelies._


	34. Chapter XXXIV

**\+ XXXIV +**

"Welcome, ladies, to our home for the next few days."

Chloe sniffed lightly at the air around the spot Aubrey had led them to, far from the resort housing but also away from any bear traps. She hoped. It wasn't like she could _smell_ those, just other wildlife, and she figured she could make herself a tad bit useful by making sure they weren't about to set up their giant twelve-person tent on top of a snake hovel or too close to, well, anywhere a _bear_ would sleep.

The Bellas groaned weakly, out of unison - a perfect testament to the quality of their sound at the moment - and started dropping their bags where they stood. "Seriously, we can't stay in any of the houses all those company dudes get to use?" Cynthia-Rose huffed.

"The houses and showers are for people who _have_ their sound," Aubrey snapped back, though not without sympathy. "We're going to have to put some work into ourselves and the group as a whole before we get to use any of that. Unless of course for emergencies. And remember to watch out for those bear traps."

"Yes, that has been beaten into us enough," Stacie grumbled.

Aubrey smiled in a timid fashion not typically like her (unless one counted the times she was alone with her two girlfriends, which Chloe could attest to, although this did not feel quite the same). "Let's set up camp and get dinner started. We'll be getting up early in the morning so we should go to bed at a decent time."

They diligently did as they were told, and after a good two and a half hours Chloe disengaged herself from the group to where Beca was seated around the fire pit closest to their campsite, on the other side of a few bushes but still visible from the tent. The brunette sat in a camp chair with her knees drawn up to her chest, her pair of sunglasses and a big sun hat that Chloe and Aubrey had essentially bullied her into buying at the end of summer placed on the ground at the chair's feet. She glanced up as Chloe sat on the end of a log beside her. They remained in silence for a good few moments, both of them staring into the empty fire pit; Chloe knew why Beca had slipped away unnoticed much sooner than she had. It'd been a decent while but both of them were still antsy about what had happened with Orion and those other vampires. While Chloe had perhaps overcompensated for what she unintentionally subjected the Bellas to witnessing, Beca had steadily started pulling away from them. Both knew what the other was doing and yet neither had so much as attempted to stop the other.

It was an age old fear. Chloe was waiting for the day that at least _one_ of the Bellas decided they didn't want to share their home with an aca-freaking _werewolf_ and took matters into their own hands to convince the rest that they needed to drive her out. And then where could she go? Without the Bellas she didn't know how she would function in her schoolwork - none of it would feel like it mattered. And she could _feel_ Beca's similar fear, that one night when she happened to be asleep one of the Bellas might drive a stake through her heart and-

"What are you two doing?"

They glanced up at Aubrey's approach. Chloe had heard her getting closer, of course, but had foolishly hoped she would just let them be. She sat on the log with the redhead, frowning but narrowing her eyes skeptically at the same time. Neither of them said a word and she slowly pursed her lips. After a few minutes of silence she huffed sharply in aggravation and rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up limply in the air.

"It's been _weeks_ , you guys!" she snapped shrilly. "And you both know that none of the Bellas have a - a - a killing or, or malicious bone in their bodies. Nobody wants to drive either of you off campus or try to murder you with silver or a stake. They-"

"Don't joke about that, Aubrey," Beca said lowly.

"I'm _not_! How stubborn do you two have to _be_ , to keep thinking they hate you now?!"

"As soon as I was old enough to start _kindergarten_ my mom made me rehearse the rules we have for interacting with humans," Chloe muttered. "Act like them, not a wolf. Never show off the abilities you have as a werewolf. Don't even _try_ to entertain the idea that werewolves might exist. Unless _super specific_ circumstances are met, never turn in front of a human, even if it's a friend or someone you've known for years." She shook her head. "From the time I could walk I was warned of how humans react to knowing about _us_ \- the only person outside of my family and my pack who was ever supposed to know the truth was whoever became my mate."

"I could say the same things, but I don't want to be too repetitive," Beca snarled. "We know we're not supposed to trust humans. In hindsight, I think we both feel like we were far too cocky. I never should have enrolled in college, I never should have joined the Bellas, I-"

"You've got to be kidding me," Aubrey interrupted, voice taking on a steely quality that never failed in making Chloe flinch. Usually she only used it during Bella rehearsals that were going really poorly - hearing it in this context placed a weight in the pit of her stomach. "I'm sick of seeing you two _sulking_ around and jumping at every single move the Bellas make or word they speak. You've built this all up in your heads. They're _fine_ with what you two are, and they've said as much to _both_ of you. All of them. Individually. So you need to cut this crap or else we're going to get nowhere this weekend - everyone else is here to work on our _sound_ for Worlds, and Chloe, as their co-captain, they're going to be looking to you just as much as they'll be looking to me, for guidance and encouragement. And Beca, you're so often pulling us together and inspiring us - you can't just quit on us now! I don't believe you when you say you shouldn't be with us. Or if either of you try again to say you can't do Worlds. I know you're both just as excited to perform and remember, thanks to that _disastrous_ performance, that John and Gail are going to be there to watch us win or lose, and if we lose, that's the end of the Bellas."

Chloe exchanged a glance with Beca. _Why is it so easy to self-destruct and be aware of what you're doing, but unable to stop it?_ she wondered. Because that was all they were doing. After hearing so many horror stories about how it went revealing one's monstrous self to humans (a nine out of ten times average, roughly) they were both just so ready to be faced with what every other one of their pack- or Clan-mates had faced.

Immediate disowning. Violence at worst, complete and utter avoidance at best.

But always the fear.

She hated doing this. The self-destructing - she and Beca were doing it of their own free-will, perhaps because they felt like it would make the expected betrayal a bit easier to swallow when it ultimately occurred. And yet she couldn't stop. Not even for Aubrey. It had honestly been like this since that day, and Chloe felt so much mounting self-hatred that sometimes she couldn't even sleep at night, as worried as she was with every passing moment that she was close to ruining everything she had. Their relationship; their sisterhood with the Bellas; and in worrying about ruining it she was doing just that.

So why couldn't she stop herself from doing any of it? And why couldn't Beca, either?

"We have no idea what any of them are going to do," Beca sighed, flicking her eyes back to Aubrey. Her features were a bit more hollowed out than usual - Chloe had grounds to believe she was essentially starving herself, only feeding the bare minimum that would keep her from losing herself. Self-punishment. "Maybe _they_ won't ever hurt us, but what if they accidentally let something slip and tell someone who... who happens to be a vampire or werewolf hunter? Sure the chances are slim, but word travels fucking fast, Bree. The second it's _really_ out there..." She trailed off, shaking her head grimly. Chloe sighed, feeling in her very bones exactly what the brunette was speaking to.

Aubrey scoffed, shrill again with forced flippancy. She jerked up to her feet. "You both are being so pig-headed about this," she snapped. "If - if you're really going to continue to be like this, then - then why don't you both just _leave_? Leave the campgrounds, leave the Bellas, leave Barden - leave _me_ , why don't you?!" Whirling around, she stomped away from them, roughly pushing her way through the foliage to bypass the tent and just continue walking. Each of the Bellas followed her warpath with their eyes as she passed and glanced back at Chloe and Beca wearily; they were close enough to them that they'd probably heard every word.

Chloe shut her eyes, allowing a single tear to drip down her cheek. The sound of Aubrey's broken voice, tainted by the first notes of wretched sobbing, rang around in her ears. Back in reality she heard Cynthia-Rose mutter something to the rest of the Bellas along the lines of going on a little walk before dinner, and everyone unanimously agreed. Beside her, Beca sighed heavily, and she heard her plant her feet on the ground.

Where had it all started? Had it really been the night of that disastrous turning, Orion and Gus' unexpected visit with Emily and the Kommissar held in their claws? Aubrey sacrificing herself for the sake of the rest of the Bellas and essentially having another near-death experience that had most certainly required Beca's venom to save her?

Chloe and Beca had discussed it in length, in private, only two days after the incident. The redhead transported herself back to that moment in time, keeping her eyes closed and doing her best to tune out most of the sounds around her.

 **# # #**

 _Out of all the places they could have talked privately, Chloe felt the odd need to tell Beca to meet her in the basement a half-hour after dinner. She sat on the floor in more or less the middle of the room, staring at the chains still pinned up and the deep claw scores in the concrete. The potent smell of herself in such an un-tethered state lingered. That, and the smell of long dead blood. Drips of it were congealed on the floor where it had probably fallen from her lips or claws. She shuddered vaguely thinking of how Aubrey had described the state of the vampires she'd "dealt with" - Beca had thankfully taken care of the very_ dead _, very torn apart bodies by calling Nadine and enlisting her help. And that was all Chloe knew about that. She didn't_ want _to know more... but it was part of the reason she'd silently (at least, to any human who might have been trying to listen in) asked Beca to meet her down here._

 _She heard the door open and Beca's gliding footsteps descending the stairs._

 _"I'm getting worried about Aubrey," was the first thing that fell from her lips, before she even sat down next to Chloe on the floor. The redhead shot her a frown in a wordless plea for elaboration. "She keeps coughing, and she's really pale," Beca huffed. A glimmer in her eyes gave the words a whole new level of gravity._

 _"The doctor said there might still be a bit of water in her lungs, but not enough to really hurt her. Unless the coughing persists for longer than a few days," she said._

 _Beca sighed, scowling at the claw-marked wall._

 _Once it became clear that she wasn't going to respond, Chloe angled her body towards the brunette to get her full attention. "Tell me what's going on, Beca," she demanded. "I got a call from my mama today and she pretty much tried to crawl through the phone to make sure I was okay. How does she know about what happened?"_

 _"Nadine had to report the incident," Beca huffed. "To the rest of the Council. Clearly Ned and Vivianne are still trying to accomplish whatever bullshit plan they had. As customary, whenever a vampire attacks a werewolf or vice versa, the other party is alerted. Of course they called your aunt to explain the situation - they already contacted her over the summer, remember. This is serious bullshit, Chlo. Ned and Vivianne have made it very apparent that they're targeting_ me _, and therefore you and Aubrey as well. This is no longer a situation the Council feels like they can handle on their own. And since a human is involved it's about ten times worse. Nadine already told me there's a good chance we'll be getting a vampire and werewolf bodyguard each, to prevent another mess like the other night. Mostly for Aubrey's sake, but considering that you'll probably be taking over leadership of your pack from your aunt and I was invited to run for the new royalty election, our safety needs to be ensured, too."_

 _Chloe averted her eyes momentarily. "That seems like it's taking awhile," she muttered._

 _"Well, yeah, the fact that two banished vampires are still creating one hell of a mess in multiple regards is kinda stunting all the bureaucratic shit. Our Clan is pretty much in a panic." Beca glanced away as well, fidgeting uncomfortably. "I was going to tell you and Aubrey this at the same time, but... I decided I'm going to start my campaign to run for Queen. With Nadine's help, of course, and hopefully yours and Aubrey's at some point, too."_

 _"Really? Beca, that's huge." Chloe didn't even comment on what it meant for relations between vampires and werewolves, considering_ their _relationship - it essentially connected their two worlds, for the vampire Queen to be (eventually) mated with a werewolf pack leader._

 _Beca nodded, halfheartedly rolling her eyes. "I'm sick of the way things are going right now. It took forever for Ned and Vivianne to just be banished, and they're still a pain in the ass. And they keep trying to hurt the women I love. I'm not going to continue to stand for that." Her nose scrunched up and Chloe felt a weight drop in her stomach, but it was not quite her own feeling; it came from Beca. "But... there's something else I have to tell you. And you're probably not going to like it, considering how excited you became after we brought Aubrey home from the hospital, and for that I'm really sorry, Chlo."_

 _Chloe frowned. After knowing Aubrey would be okay and getting some sleep she had remembered exactly how she had initially thought she might feel if she told the rest of the Bellas what she was; the weight lifting from her chest had told her she'd been right. It was a wonderful feeling, and she was so happy that the rest of her_ family _knew that she was more than willing to disregard the finer points that came along with revealing such a secret. Namely the threat that she had no control over them and they could - not to say any of them ever_ would _\- accidentally or unintentionally reveal their secret to people outside of their sisterhood circle. Her mama had been sure to remind her of all the reasons why they typically_ never _told anyone outside of eventual mates, even though she had been ultimately supportive and wearily trustful once Chloe had assured her that out of all the humans she could have told, the Bellas were certainly the safest. And that she was actually_ happy _to have told them._

 _But, seeing the sad look to Beca's steel blue eyes and feeling the anxiety_ she _felt, Chloe got the terrible sense that whatever she had to say next would certainly spoil the good mood she'd developed. The feeling of safety amongst the Bellas._

 _"Chloe," Beca began softly, reaching out to take one of her hands in both of hers, "Nadine was saying it would be better if we... removed ourselves... from all our human contacts and relationships. And apparently your aunt agrees."_

 _"Beca," Chloe snapped, but the edge was taken away by a breathy quality to her voice. It took her a second to calm her breathing some, feeling like she was on the verge of hyperventilating. "I don't - there's no way my aunt would agree with that! I-I know that it isn't exactly encouraged for... for people like us to reveal ourselves to outsiders, but I_ know _we can trust the Bellas. We can trust Aubrey, too, but I know that much doesn't need to be said. Right? Don't you... don't you agree?"_

 _For a few moments Beca just stared at her, that sadness to her eyes practically tripling and instilling a sick sort of fear in Chloe's chest. "Chloe... we're not_ people _," she whispered. Tears brimmed her eyes and she took in a trembling, unneeded inhale. "Not really. Not to any of them. Not even to Aubrey. Sure we have human qualities or morals or whatever but_ we aren't human. _We have to accept that."_

 _"No... no, Beca, that's ridiculous!" Chloe cried. Her own tears completely bypassed a single second of lingering and started dripping down her cheeks._

 _"Look, Chloe, I know it sucks to hear it, but it's true," Beca snapped; her voice wavered with too much raw emotion that it lost any sort of bite. "Because we aren't human, we have different ways of doing things. As long as we're around and Ned and Vivianne are still at large, Aubrey is going to be in danger. And now the Bellas will be, too." She shook her head - one tear finally fell from her eyelashes. "Nadine said we can stay until Worlds, but_ right after that _we have to go. And it'll be easier to leave if... if we make it so that they want us gone. A little. Do you understand?" Another shaky inhale. "Once we leave, I'll officially start my campaign. It will go quick, but regardless of if I win, a new King and or Queen will make this better."_

 _Chloe hung her head, sniffling. Her body felt numb. "What does that even mean?"_

 _"It means that when the Clan has leadership again,_ something _will be decided in terms of what to do with Ned and Vivianne. The Council doesn't have the authority to deal with it on their own, not even with your pack as allies or putting pressure on them to act."_

 _"So after the election, whoever is King or Queen will work with my aunt to deal with them once and for all?"_

 _"That's right. And as soon as that happens, we can come back."_

 _Shaking her head, Chloe met Beca's gaze once more. "This is ridiculous."_

 _Beca sighed heavily. "A bit. But it's for Aubrey and the rest of the Bellas - we can't let anything happen to them! Think, Chlo. Aubrey came so close to_ dying _._ Again _. If something happened to her_ another _time I don't think I'd be able to live with myself."_

 _"If we leave, we won't be able to protect her! Why does it have to be both of us?"_

 _"You'll have to ask your aunt about that. But no matter what, there are going to be some of us watching the house, the whole campus, Aubrey especially - she won't be going anywhere without a tail. People trained in this kind of thing. You know, we do technically have our own army, and I know there are, like, special forces for werewolves."_

 _Narrowing her eyes momentarily, Chloe removed her hand from Beca's. She needed a clear head, and being in physical contact with the brunette just made her connection to her feelings all the more apparent. At least when they weren't touching the redhead could pretend like she couldn't feel exactly what Beca was feeling - and what Aubrey was feeling, too, just right upstairs. It was a sense of calm and contentment that really didn't sit right with the sadness she was getting from Beca, and her own nausea._

 _She took awhile to think about it, just sitting there silently, facing Beca. The brunette averted her eyes once it became clear Chloe wasn't going to offer an immediate response._

 _Eventually, it made some sort of sense, and she understood why Beca felt it was what they needed to do. To protect Aubrey, and the Bellas, and even all their other human friends when it really came down to it. Beca was right - Ned and Vivianne (_ Those aca-assholes _, Chloe thought, snarling viciously to herself) weren't just going to stop this stupid grudge they had against Beca particularly, or whatever it was, and if they really wanted to do something about it they were going to have to ensure that whoever got elected, be it Beca or someone else, actually_ did something _to let them rest easy about it._

 _And, unfortunately, the best way to leave was to make sure they weren't wanted. At least enough so that they could still come back and amend things, but so that maybe it would hurt a bit less when their absences became real._

 _Because if Aubrey and the Bellas knew about any of this, Chloe knew - and Beca probably knew, too, which meant in a roundabout way that so did Nadine - that they would drop everything to help the two of them. They would assist Beca's campaign (which probably wouldn't go well if other vampires heard of it) and they would insist on protecting themselves._

 _But against vampires like Ned and Vivianne, they wouldn't have a chance._

 _She reached back out and took Beca's hands back in hers. "Okay," she whispered. "What are we going to do, then?"_

 **# # #**

Right now, sitting by the fire pit and feeling so alone now that Aubrey had stomped off and the Bellas were giving them space, Chloe had half a mind to suggest they take it all back. The reality of how much it _hurt_ to push away the people she loved - _especially Aubrey_ \- was making her heart clench so hard she thought it was literally, _physically_ going to break. It didn't help that the feeling was multiplied times two, courtesy of Beca and Aubrey feeling the exact same thing. Not that either of them were aware of it like Chloe was.

"Stay strong," Beca whispered. She was trembling ever so noticeably.

"If we continue to act like this, Aubrey's right - our sound is going to suffer," Chloe half-spat, feeling herself start to bristle. "We still have to put our all into winning Worlds. We owe them that much if we're going to pull this _shit_ in the meantime. If we don't win, the Bellas are finished. That's like... another kick when they're down."

Beca nodded slowly. "I know."

"So we'll make an effort?"

"Of course. But we can't just blatantly revert."

Snorting, Chloe stood. She felt such anger and she didn't know what to do with it. As it was, it was making her nearly delirious, an uncontrollable rumble of a growl rising in her throat, and she wanted to take it all out in a physical manner totally unbecoming of a regular _human_.

 _But you're not a human, remember? Out of all the things Beca said... that's the truest._

She stalked away, hands clenched into fists at her side. "Easier said than done, Beca," she shot angrily over her shoulder, regretting the words the second she saw the tears building in the brunette's eyes, and the quiver to her lower lip.

* * *

 _A/N: Well let's just start with this: sorry for taking so long to update! I wasn't sure where to go really after the last chapter, but I'm getting back into it now, and I'm going to try and have a few chapters done before I upload so that I don't have to keep you all waiting for too much longer._

 _With that being said, hopefully this chapter makes sense! I came up with the whole thing halfway through writing it so I hope the first part doesn't totally contradict the second or vice versa. As I was starting this chapter I thought it was a bit unbelievable that either Beca or Chloe would really believe the Bellas would hate them, so I thought this might make some sort of sense (not to say their plan is exactly smart). So yeah, I'm piling the angst on for a little while sorrynotsorry._

 _Thank you all for your continued support! Special shout-out to **FanDeLecture** and **i call my car rico** , I really appreciated your reviews and your understanding!_

 _Please keep reviewing, following and favoriting! Much love~_


	35. Chapter XXXV

**\+ XXXV +**

Beca was, first and foremost, _tired_.

Mentally, emotionally, and physically. While Chloe was coping with their plan of sorts by increasingly becoming more and more angry, Beca was going pretty much on the opposite route, reacting to everything with an exhaustion she had never before felt in her long, three hundred-fifty years of "life". That, and the vigorous exercises Aubrey was putting all of them through in order to rediscover their sound were quite taxing. Beca didn't know how any of this would really help, no matter how fun some of them were (the water slide thing was probably her favorite, all the stuff in the mud definitely her least) and how much she felt like they were all bonding. But that was probably just her current mindset.

The crammed situation in the tent was... interesting, to say the least. Sure, it was where they ultimately did most of their bonding, but it was also painfully awkward. Beca, Chloe and Aubrey were still sleeping close together, although with buffers. Aubrey had refused to acknowledge that that was what it was and had instead insisted that it was just the smartest way to fit everyone in the tent. So in one row was Stacie, Cynthia-Rose, Aubrey, Beca, Fat Amy, and Jessica; in the other row was Flo, Chloe, Lily, Emily, and Ashley. They were all placed so that their heads were closest together and when Beca turned hers to the side she had to look at Chloe upside-down and had to pick herself up a bit in order to look _over_ her at Aubrey. The blonde was largely ignoring the both of them, though, after their fight on the first day arriving here. If Beca could take all that back she would, but it was safest this way. Aubrey and even the rest of the Bellas weren't going to stand with being left out if she and Chloe were to actually tell them their plan! Their safety was of the upmost priority. They couldn't know.

Beca stared up forlornly at the yellow roof of their tent, listening to the sleep-breathing around her and reminding herself to keep up the facade of it as well, to decrease the chance of one of the others waking up to her just not breathing and freaking out like Aubrey and Chloe had at the beginning of their relationship. She blinked furiously every now and then - she'd done enough middle of the night crying, thinking about the fact that she and Chloe were going to have to leave as soon as Worlds was over, regardless of the outcome. Every time she thought about it she felt sick. She didn't want to leave Aubrey. Not seeing everyone else was painful, too, and she turned a bit and picked her head up to glance at a softly snoring Amy beside her. As much as it sort of pained her to say (in front of others), the loud Australian had become her best friend, even more so than Jesse, who had as of late become so focused on his own stuff that they hardly hung out anymore. She couldn't even really imagine leaving the rest of the Bellas, either - they had never _not_ been supportive of her, when it came to music, her relationship with Chloe and Aubrey, and even her being a vampire. She shivered a little and felt the resurged threat of tears. _God, you're an idiot_ , she chastised herself. _Sure you're only pushing everyone away just a_ bit _, but this is going to hurt Aubrey right down to her fucking soul. It's going to hurt Chloe, too, and_ you _\- you idiot! - and Amy, and Emily, and Cynthia-Rose, and Stacie, and probably even Jessica and Ashley..._

Man, if Aubrey didn't kill her first for this plan, then Amy most certainly would.

It wasn't so easy, though, and all of them wanting to help would be the least of her worries if she told them. How would it feel for them to know they were essentially being hunted by a rogue group of vampires? And as much as she wanted to, she couldn't yet allow Aubrey to be in such close proximity to her Clan. It was going to be difficult enough with Chloe around as one of her political advisors, a _werewolf_ , that having a human around would make it... well, Beca didn't even know. Sure, she could say Aubrey was her mate, but she was waiting to turn her - how did Chloe fit in, then? She could say that _Chloe_ was her mate, and while that would be a whole riff in and of itself, how would Aubrey, a human, then fit in? And if she said _both of them_ were her mates that would be even worse! While one half of the controversy would be her relationship with a werewolf, the other half would be a debate over what Aubrey would become. Vampire or werewolf? Which one of them got to turn her?

Hell, if the rest of Chloe's pack knew, they'd probably ask the same thing. Beca had tried as hard as she could not to even think about all that, even though she knew it was something they were going to have to discuss _eventually_. When they officially became mates. It was only something that had come to her a decent while _after_ they'd started dating, one time she was visiting Nadine and her sire had sat her down to discuss it. She didn't want to talk to Chloe about it because she wasn't sure if the redhead had gotten a similar reality check from her mother, or maybe even her aunt.

Scrubbing her hands down her face, Beca released a low sigh and forced her eyes to shut. They had another big day ahead of them tomorrow, she should be getting _some_ sleep. Eventually. And obsessing over her thoughts wasn't going to make slumber come easily. How many times did she have to go over it? She knew what she was doing, what she _had_ to do, and that was it. She was going to put her all into the Bellas right now so that they hopefully rediscovered their sound and won Worlds. After that, she and Chloe had to get as far away from them and Aubrey as they could, so that they would be _safe_ , especially during Beca's campaign and the election. After _that_ they could come home, as soon as Ned and Vivianne were officially dealt with. A flash of anger surged through Beca's body and she felt herself shift just a little into her vampire form, the emotions too strong to stop the reaction. She _hated_ the former Prince and Princess. The gall they both had... it was abhorrent.

Beca finally fell into a fitful sleep full of vague dreams that consisted largely of the worst possibilities all coming true. Aubrey and Chloe getting hurt, or any of the Bellas, Ned and Vivianne accomplishing their goal of overtaking the Clan for their personal agenda, probably a war of sorts with the werewolves...

A shrill whistle broke through the dreams and she startled awake with a grunt. "Rise and shine, Bellas! Let's go!" Aubrey shouted from outside the tent. Everyone groggily, but quickly, scrambled out of their sleeping bags and fell into line in front of a fully dressed, already awake-looking Aubrey. Well, more or less. There were dark circles under her eyes and her usually so refined posture went back and forth from deflated to so rigid it looked legitimately painful. Her pale green gaze drifted over each Bella in turn but pointedly avoided either Beca or Chloe. "Okay," she barked, beginning to pace back and forth with her hands on her hips. Everyone perked up for this morning's pep talk. "We're getting there, girls. I'm proud of you for giving it your all so far. Today is our last day here - we'll have a more leisurely morning tomorrow before we leave back for Barden. So we _have_ to make today, and tonight, count. Now let's get dressed, brush our teeth, and get a bit of breakfast so we can get to work!"

* * *

Five hours later and Beca was gritting her teeth, her emotions still trying to get the better of her and threatening to affect her body as much as her mind. Surprisingly, her singing was the only thing that hadn't been hurt so far.

"Come on, Short Stack!" Fat Amy bellowed. "Get your head out of your arse and into the game! Or whatever this is!"

Beca shook herself, blinking hard, and refocused as much as she could. They were playing some distorted version of volleyball that didn't really involve sides so they wouldn't get competitive over winning or losing against each other. She supposed it would make more sense if she had actively listened to Aubrey when she explained the goal behind it. It was like a mixture of volleyball and basketball - instead of trying to get the ball to touch the ground on the other side of the net, they were trying to keep it _off_ the ground and get it through a hoop.

"This one's coming your way, Becs!" Chloe shouted, bumping the ball up and in her direction. Beca positioned herself underneath it and hit it - it arced towards the hoop and the Bellas collectively gasped in excitement - and it bounced off the rim.

"Fuck!" Beca bellowed. The unexpected bout of anger rocked through her and she hardly even noticed her body quickly slipping into its vampire form. She stomped over to the hoop and slashed out at it with her claws, ripping up the metal pole; strings of incoherent words came out in the form of snarls and hisses. The ball rolled a bit closer and she practically pounced on it, sinking her fangs into the hard sphere and tearing a chunk out.

" _Beca_!"

Her head whipped up, another chunk of volleyball in her mouth, chest heaving with panting, angry breaths. Chloe gave her a _look_ , jerking her head to indicate the rest of the Bellas looking on with wide eyes. Beca glanced down at her hands - the long fingers ending in horrific claws, the slight glow to her grayish skin - and abruptly came back to herself. Spitting the volleyball out of her mouth she stood and shifted back into her human form, feeling her dead flesh heat up in an embarrassed, pale blush. A different sort of hatred bubbled up in her chest; not one directed at Ned, or Vivianne, or even Orion, but one directed at herself.

"Dammit," she hissed, bringing her arms up to wrap them around her shoulders in a lame attempt at creating a barrier between her and the others. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered pitifully. "Sorry, I just - I got frustrated, but I really shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry." In one last show of frustration she kicked the ball. It soared down the court and past Chloe, who immediately whipped around and ran off after it into the bushes. She came back with it in her hands and a grin on her face, body sort of wiggling in the equivalent of wagging a tail.

The Bellas turned their attention to her and she blanched. "Oops," she muttered. She dropped the ball and shrugged, digging the toe of her shoe into the sand beneath them. "Uh, habit. Sorry," she added.

"Oh Jesus Christ, Chloe," Beca snapped. The redhead flinched and hung her head, looking all the more like a guilty puppy. "Seriously, can't you just ignore your instincts for once? To spare everyone else from freaking out? You're not a _dog_ around them, remember?!"

"You're one to talk!" Chloe snarled right back, head snapping up again. "You just tried to treat that ball like it was a deer or something else you were feeding on! Did you imagine it was a human you were sucking blood from? Because remember, like _you said_ , you and I _aren't_ human! We are animals, we are monsters, and we're just all around awful!"

"I didn't say it like that!" Beca cried.

"Both of you _quit it_!" Aubrey practically screamed. Her face was somehow pale and really red at the same time, giving her a really pink look, and the tendons in her neck stood out. "What the aca- _hell_ is wrong with you two these days?! It's like you're _trying_ to be absolute idiots and push the rest of us away!"

Chloe pointed an aggressive finger at Beca. "It was Beca's idea!"

"Shut up, Chloe!" Beca hissed.

"Oi, oi, let's calm down, yeah? Red? Short Stack?" Fat Amy interjected, holding her hands up as if in surrender. "None of us want to see you fight, you guys are like the power couple of Barden. We're all rooting for ya..."

The three of them ignored her. "You two are going to explain yourselves _right now_ ," Aubrey almost wailed, stomping her foot down like a child throwing a fit. "I'm sick of you acting like this, I really am. It _hurts_ and I _hate it_!" Beca bit her tongue, and to her delight she saw Chloe do the same, shuffling back a step and looking everywhere but at the furious blonde. Of course, it did little to help. She screamed out something that was possibly supposed to be words but didn't come out that way through the anger; Stacie and Emily, on either side of her, awkwardly stepped closer to offer physical comfort. She shook them both off and stared daggers at them.

Chloe whimpered and threw her head back. "Dammit, Beca!" she half-squeaked. "We can't do this. I'm sorry. Aubrey, we didn't want to tell you anything because-"

"Chloe! I said _shut up_!" Beca interrupted loudly.

"No, Beca, please, we have to tell her, I can't handle this, I can't-"

"Fine! Then you can tell her, but I'm getting the hell out of here before it all goes to shit!" Beca whirled around and forewent the path for a shortcut to camp, ignoring the sudden burst of shouts from the women behind her at her own expense. The ground suddenly wrapped up around her and she yelped, scrambling around in the mesh net as it sprang up a couple feet in the air. The Bellas appeared underneath her, hopping back and forth with a clear air of panic and not at all knowing what to do.

"Oh my god - Chloe, do something! She could fall!" Aubrey cried.

Chloe sauntered up underneath the net, crossing her arms. "I'm not doing shit until Beca tells you what's going on," she snarled.

Beca rolled her eyes in aggravation. "Chloe, you know I-" She cut herself off with another yelp as the branch holding the net suddenly sagged with a creaking sound that meant it was going to break. "Chloe, seriously, get me down!" she yelled. "It's not like I'll die or anything if I fall but I seriously doubt anyone wants to see my body heal itself if I break a bone! I don't even really like watching it, it's really freaky!"

"I'm sure no one will mind that much," Chloe huffed.

"Speak for yourself, girl!" Cynthia-Rose snapped.

The branch sagged even more, prompting a cry from Beca and yelps from the others.

"Think about how stupid we're being, Beca!" Chloe yelled.

"I know we're being stupid! How the hell do you really think I feel, Chloe?! You're the one who can _actually feel_ my emotions as well as your own! You know I hate this!" Beca cried.

"Then why don't you fix it?! I can't do it myself!"

"You know what Nadine said! Hell, you talked to your aunt about it! We have to think about their safety, and if that involves upsetting them and even Aubrey, that's just how it's going to go!" The branch sagged a bit more and Beca squeaked out another yelp. "Jesus Christ - Chloe! Enough is enough!"

"Yeah, it is," Chloe retorted, her voice cracking. "I talked to my Aunt Ruby. She said I should follow my instincts, and my _instincts_ tell me that even with bodyguards on all three of us, we're the best available for protecting Aubrey!"

Aubrey cut in with a shrill laugh. "Regardless of whatever the _hell_ you're talking about, haven't either of you considered I can protect _myself_?!"

"Bree, you _know_ what my kind is capable of," Beca whined. If her heart was still capable of beating, it would be pounding aggressively in her chest right about now in a mixture of fear and adrenaline. "Ned and Vivianne have targeted you - and Chloe - as a way to get to me. And now they know about the rest of the Bellas, too. I can't just sit around and let anyone get hurt because of me, okay? It would _kill me_ if something happened! Especially to you!"

"Then what exactly is your _plan_ , Beca?" Aubrey snapped, clearly annunciating both syllables of her name in a way that, in other circumstances, would have made Beca's chest warm and her head spin.

Instead, she was far more focused on not dropping ten or so feet to the hard ground.

"Fine! Okay, Chloe?! I'll tell her!" she cried. As if to accentuate her point, the branch creaked a bit more, and the Bellas jumped out from directly underneath her. Her hands gripped the holes in the net in a vice. "Aubrey, I accepted the invitation to run for the position of Queen of our Clan," she began hurriedly. "I want to be able to do something about Ned and Vivianne before they really fuck something up! The Council doesn't have the authority to deal with them - since they were already banished the only other punishment they can receive is death, and they have to be hunted down for that, and that is an action only a King or Queen can decree! Darragh and Hedevi have already stepped down. We need this election to _start_ , much less _happen_! And I don't know how I'm supposed to explain my relationship with you or Chloe, and certainly not with the both of you at the same time! I was just going to take Chloe with me for my campaign so she can help because she's going to be the next leader of her pack and I'll have to work with her aunt if I win and so that we can both be far away from you, so no angry vampires or werewolves will try to hurt you! _Or_ the Bellas! And I knew that if I told you any of this you would refuse to let us leave and everyone else would probably insist on helping too. I'm sorry, Bree, and I'm sorry to you too, Chloe, I was stupid and scared and I just went along with the first thing Nadine suggested because I don't want anyone to get _hurt_!"

Her words were met with stunned silence and she sought Chloe out; the redhead was staring up at her with a relieved, but tight, expression. "Okay!" she barked, startling everyone else out of their focus on Beca. "Get together, Bellas, let's get her down!" Aubrey jumped into action as well, and the two of them ordered everyone into a somewhat shaky human pyramid that brought Chloe closer to the net. Right as her fingertips grazed the mesh, the rope holding it to the creaking tree branch broke, and a screaming Beca fell down right on top of the rest of the Bellas, onto Fat Amy particularly, somehow. Once everyone picked themselves up a bit and Beca stopped panting in terror, they all looked up at where the net had previously been.

Lily was hanging upside-down, the rope wrapped around her feet, braided pigtails hanging down towards them. She had a knife in each hand. "Sometimes I sleep upside-down, like a bat," she said in her teeny little voice - only Beca and Chloe actually heard her - and she sheathed the knives in her belt in a very fluid, practiced motion.

"What the hell?" Cynthia-Rose half-muttered, half-panted.

* * *

"So not only did Emily get to work in a fucking _castle_ after high school, but you guys got on the blacklist of the former Prince and Princess of the vampire... Clan?" Stacie echoed in broad summarization, eyes narrowed in befuddlement. She threw her hands up in the air. "And you and Chloe want to just ditch us straight after Worlds so you can become the next Queen?! That's bullshit, Beca!"

"I second that," Cynthia-Rose snapped, pointing from the taller brunette to Beca, crammed in between Aubrey and Chloe on the log at the campfire. Sparks and embers popped up from the flames illuminating the eleven of them in the dark of nighttime. "We know how to take care of ourselves, especially each other. Aren't we sisters or some shit?"

"This is _different_ ," Beca stressed.

Amy tsking stopped her from elaborating. The Australian shook her head in admonishment and Beca couldn't help rolling her eyes in both affection and slight annoyance. "Beca, Beca, Beca... Becs, Short Stack..." She leaned in closer. For once, she actually looked deadly serious. "You bloody dumbass. You _know_ this isn't really all that different. I mean, come on. I've wrestled _dingoes_ before, not to even mention that one time a crocodile stole my crocs and I had to go in after them. Back when crocs weren't the Harvey Weinstein of the shoe community. We held our own against that vampire you were fighting, that jerk-off that tried to kill Aubrey! If we can beat the shit out of _him_ , we can do it with anyone else."

She did technically have a point, but Beca was stubborn to a fault, and she couldn't just ignore everything she had discussed with Nadine. "I can't let any of you help, not even Aubrey," she sighed. "My sire would never allow it. And I don't think Chloe's aunt would, either. We... we're not going to push you away anymore, that was really stupid, but we still have to leave right after Worlds. I'm sorry." She glanced around the campfire, at the frustrated expressions on everyone's faces, and sighed again. "It doesn't matter how many times I say that, does it?"

On her right, Aubrey remained uncharacteristically quiet and subdued.

Emily shook her head emphatically. "Beca, you know how much we all care about you guys - obviously, since you already knew we were going to insist on helping if you told us about this," she practically gushed. "So why don't you let us talk to Nadine, and Chloe's aunt? If we hear it straight from them that we can't help, we'll back off. But you gotta give us a chance to sway their decision! Right, girls?"

"Legacy is _absolutely_ right," Stacie half-snapped.

Beca smiled somewhat bitterly. "You guys really want to meet another vampire and another werewolf?"

"Don't be daft," Cynthia-Rose scoffed, waving a hand in dismissal. "How many times we all gotta tell either of you we don't _mind it_? Sure, it was a hard adjustment-"

"Speak for yourself," Flo huffed.

"-but in the end, it really does make sense. Beca, you're pale as _hell_! And such a night person! Chloe, I used to think describing you as a puppy was just a perfect metaphor, but it's really just blatantly true! The more you guys think we're just lying to you or some shit, the more insulted I'ma feel. So get this through your heads - we accept you just the way you are."

Stacie laughed. "I mean, come on, we accepted your threesome relationship just fine. You really think there's anything you can do that'll make us hate you?"

Beca carefully glanced to Chloe, unsurprised to see the triumphant-yet-tired smirk dominating her expression. She felt her lips curl up into a smile as well and she turned back to the Bellas at large. "I'm sorry," she apologized again. _Gonna be doing a lot of that for the next couple days at least_. "I knew I was being stupid about so much of this and yet I couldn't stop myself. You guys should totally talk to Nadine and Ruby Beale about this. Who knows, they might just let you help." She angled herself a bit towards Aubrey, frowning in instant concern and ducking down a bit in an attempt to catch her eye. It didn't quite work. "Aubrey?"

She felt Chloe lean around her a bit to get closer to the blonde. "Bree?" she echoed.

For a few moments Aubrey remained silent, eyes focused on her hands in her lap. "I need time to think," she whispered after what felt like an eternity, even to Beca. The brunette flinched lightly and exchanged a frown with Chloe. Sighing, Aubrey picked her head up. "I want to say that I'm even more proud of you all," she said. "We really worked as a team trying to get Beca down from that bear trap, even if Lily was the one who actually accomplished it and the rest of us just acted as a cushion for her to fall onto."

"In that respect, let's be glad it wasn't Amy who got swept up in a trap," Cynthia-Rose snickered, and everyone but Aubrey chuckled a little as well.

"I thought we could just _talk_ ," the blonde went on as if Cynthia-Rose hadn't spoken. "I was remembering that day during rehearsal, when Beca came back to help us with finals... and we all brought up something the rest of us didn't know. I want to go back to that, and I thought we could talk about the future a little, too."

A few of them nodded in agreement. Stacie leaned forward and gestured vaguely to Cynthia-Rose. "We've been encouraging each other to go to our therapy groups," she said. "Gambling addiction for her, 'sex' addiction to me. We've both actually made a lot of progress! I've been able to stay with this one guy for a couple of months instead of just dropping him to go fuck a bunch of other people, and I'm really, genuinely happy with him."

"I haven't gambled in months and I'm happy to inform you guys I am _way_ over my ex-girlfriend," Cynthia-Rose said. "I haven't met someone else yet, but I'm also having a good time being single. I like it - I feel like I'm falling in love with myself, and I think that'll make it even easier for me to love others. You guys included."

"Jessica and I got these really cool internships for next summer," Ashley said, smiling.

"Alright, alright, I know you guys are dying to hear about me," Amy said, cutting her off a little. She stood and spread her arms out. "Yours truly is going to start writing one-woman shows for after college. We all gotta start somewhere, right?"

"Flo, what about you?" Aubrey asked.

Shrugging, Flo tossed a small stick into the fire. "I'm interested in getting a business degree," she said. "I'd like to start my own someday, but I don't know yet what it will be."

"I'd support whatever you choose to do," Chloe said with one of her mega-watt grins. She turned it onto Emily. "That goes for you too, Legacy. I think all of you are gonna do some really cool things with your lives and I can't wait to see it!"

"You and Aubrey are graduating this year, aren't you?" Stacie murmured.

She nodded. "Yeah, but we won't be going away completely! I... I don't think."

Aubrey said nothing.

"Oof," Cynthia-Rose grunted, probably in response to the awkward tension steadily starting to settle over Aubrey, Chloe and Beca - the brunette could feel it, but she had no clue how to get it to go away. Not anything other than _talking_ , but Aubrey didn't seem too interested in that at the moment. "Uh, well, I guess we know now what Chloe and Beca's 'conditions' are that they talked about that one time," Cynthia-Rose went on, gesturing meekly to the two of them. "'Easily gets heatstroke' my ass, Beca."

"Yeah, that probably should have been another clue for us," Jessica mused.

"I don't know what you all are talking about," Amy laughed. "I knew this entire time!"

"Sure ya did," Cynthia-Rose grunted.

Before Fat Amy could offer a retort, Chloe's beautiful singing voice rang softly across the campfire, startling all of them into silence. " _I've got my ticket for the long way 'round... Two bottle whiskey for the way_ ," she sang, a soft grin on her face. Her eyes swiftly darted to both Beca and Aubrey, the meaning behind her gaze pretty obvious. The same went for her choice of song - an apology of sorts, for one thing, a testament to the strength of their feelings for each other for another (of course she chose the song Beca auditioned with, the one that she'd basically sung right at Aubrey and Chloe), and a gentle goodbye as well. For the rest of the Bellas. For graduating, and for what was most likely going to happen after Worlds. " _And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow, what do you say? When I'm gone, when I'm gone... You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_."

Beca joined in at the same second Aubrey did, although the blonde was staring down at her hands in her lap and not either of them.

" _You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere, oh - You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. When I'm gone, when I'm gone... You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk, oh - You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_."

Chloe's grin kicked up a notch and everyone joined in.

" _I've got my ticket for the long way 'round. The one with the prettiest of views. It's got mountains, it's got rivers, it's got sights to give you shivers... But it sure would be prettier with you. When I'm gone, when I'm gone... You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_. _You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere, oh - You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. When I'm gone, when I'm gone... You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk, oh - You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_."

Their voices faded into the quiet of the night, interrupted only by crickets and the crackling of the fire. Chloe's expression was ecstatic. "That's it, you guys," she said softly. "I think we've got our sound back."

* * *

 _A/N: So much for the angst... OR IS IT?! Think you're done with it now? 'Cause you're not. sorrynotsorry for the umpteenth time.  
_

 _Obviously I don't own the lyrics to that song._

 _I've had this chapter done for awhile, just thought I'd pace out the updates in case it takes me awhile to get the next one up. My family and I had to put down our oldest dog, so it's been hard. Thank you all for your patience._


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